Grant now had forty
thousand men for the attack or siege, but he and his generals did not yet
know that most of the scattered Confederate army had gathered together
again, and was inside. They believed that Vicksburg was held by fifteen
thousand men at the utmost.
"What do you think of it, Colonel?" asked Dick, as they sat horseback on
one of the highest hills.
"It will be hard to take, despite the help of the navy. Did you ever see
another country cut up so much by nature and offering such natural help
to defenders?"
"I've heard a lot of Vicksburg. I remember, Colonel, that, despite its
smallness, it is one of the great river towns of the South."
"So it is, Dick. I was here once, when I was a boy before the Mexican
war. Down on the bar, the low place between the bluffs and the river,
was the dueling ground, and it was also the place for sudden fights.
It and Natchez, I suppose, were rivals for the wild and violent life of
the great river."
"Well, sir, it has a bigger fight on its hands now than was ever dreamed
of by any of those men.
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