On every ground I
have great deference to your judgment and military genius, but I
feel it right to share, if need be to take the responsibility and
leave you free to follow the most desperate course the occasion may
demand. Rely upon it, the eyes and hopes of the whole Confederacy
are upon you, with the full confidence that you will act, and with
the sentiment that it were better to fail nobly daring, than through
prudence even to be inactive. I rely on you for all possible to save
Vicksburg."
On June twenty-seventh, Grant telegraphed Washington:
"Joe Johnston has postponed his attack until he can receive ten
thousand reenforcements from Bragg's army. They are expected early
next week. I feel strong enough against this increase and do not
despair of having Vicksburg before they arrive."
Pemberton's army held Vicksburg practically without food for forty-seven
days. His brave men were exposed to blistering suns and drenching rains
and confined to their trenches through every hour of the night. They had
reached the limit of human endurance and were now physically too weak to
attempt a sortie. Johnston still sat in his tent writing letters and
telegrams to Richmond.
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