The following excerpt is directly quoted from Chapter 8, pages 108-109 of this book and vividly illustrates the plight and involvement of the 9th Regiment at Vicksburg, Mississippi:

"... THE city of Vicksburg, Miss., located at a bend on the east side of the Mississippi, above Baton Rogue, La., had been strongly fortified by the rebels. It commanded the river at that point and blockaded navigation up and down. Heavy batteries had been erected on the bluffs overlooking the river.

"The Union commanders decided to reopen navigation by cutting a canal across the peninsular at Vicksburg, thus changing the course of the river, isolating the city and enabling the Union forces to avoid the batteries of the enemy. The Ninth Connecticut was a part of the expeditionary force, under Gen. Wiliams, for this purpose. Under date of Baton Rouge, June 17, 1862, Col. Cahill issued a regimental order to the Ninth, covering the embarkation of the command...

"...Says the Croffut-Morris work: "Coming in sight of batteries which the rebels had posted here and there to command the river, the infantry would go ashore and attack by land on the flank, driving the enemy from the position, and enabling the fleet to pass up. The Ninth was several times engaged in these operations, and rendered much service. The vessels went to the very guns of Vicksburg, when the brigade was landed on the west side of the river, and advanced to Young's Station, opposite the city.

"Here Commodore Farragut had already arrived, and had set large numbers of soldiers and negroes at work digging the famous canal for a new channel of the river; and the regiment of Williams' brigade at once joined enthusiastically in the excavation for the cut-off. Col. Cahill of the Ninth was the ranking colonel, and commanded in the absence of Gen. Williams.

"Here the Ninth again suffered greatly. There was nothing to eat for weeks but pork and hard-tack; no water to drink but the muddy water of the Mississippi. The swamp reeked with malaria, and the men slept upon the mud. The supply of quinine, that panacea for all the soldier's aches and ills, was exausted; there was little medicine of any sort. Requisitions were sent as far as New Orleans; but the medical Dogberry declined to honor them on the ground of 'irregularity.' Almost the whole of the Ninth regiment was at one time on the sick-list with fever caused by exposure and privation. The poor fellows died sometimes at the fearful rate of a score a week; and out of the * * * Connecticut members present, the state catalogue of troops shows that one hundred and fifty-three died during this season, —a mortality not equalled by any other of our regiments within a similar period.