| From the Memphis Appeal |
| |
| January 17, 1863 |
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| Letters From Vicksburg |
| ***** |
| Vicksburg, January 16, 1863 |
| ***** |
| Here, like elsewhere else,
where supplies are stored, the government is a heavy looser by the
waste, leakage and stealing, and though an ample watch is kept over
all government stores, the light-fingered bipeds manage to abstract
large quantities of sugar and molasses daily. It is almost impossible
to guard these stores which are lying scattered everywhere all over
the town, with a sufficient vigilance to prevent theft. In open
daylight whole hogsheads of sugar are abstracted, and at night
multiplied barrels of molasses are besieged by the pillaging parties.
The lat cold and story nights have been so excessively dark that a
hogshead of sugar might be stolen within ten feet of the sentry and he
would not be aware of it, but for the noise, and not being able to see
any object, he fires at random, which of course misses its aim, and
the pilferers escape undetected and unpunished. The military pressure
upon the Southern {(of Mississippi)} railroad
has been so great lately that immense quantities of freight, mostly
consisting of sugar, molasses, and some salt and wool, had to be
stored here to await an opportunity for shipment. It appears, however,
that private goods are not much interfered with by thieving scamps. |
| ***** |
| Nestor |
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