RETRACING OLD GROUND

On this day the 16th Ohio marched about 11 miles, passing through the Big Black River Bridge battleground and camped near Bovina, Mississippi, in their old Camp Alice. Cpl. Wolbach, Company E, tells us:

On the 23d we moved steadily over war-beaten ground toward the Big Black, meeting, frequently, paroled men of Pemberton's army that were now scattered to the four winds. These unarmed fellows, with their haversacks well filled with Federal rations, looked docile enough after an experience that thoroughly proved their fibre. Between them and the Northern boys there was manifested the friendship of comrades. Hand-shakings, when they met, and good-byes, at parting, with kind, whole-souled utterances, were acts of courtesy that might seem novel and inconsistent to be practiced by soldiers fighting for principles so opposite.

...We reached our old camp before night. The boys who had remained there thoughtfully cooked plenty of grub, of which we partook with a relish.

It is surmised that the members of the 16th Ohio and other troops that invested so much of their energy and blood in the assaults and siege of Vicksburg would be very anxious to finally be able to enter the conquered city.

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Period military map showing the approximate route of the 16th Ohio from their campsite near Edward's Depot to Camp Alice, near Bovina, Mississippi, where they camped the night of July 23, 1863, on their way back to Vicksburg.

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Modern day map showing the approximate route of the 16th Ohio from their camp near Edward's Depot west, about 11 miles, to Camp Alice, near Bovina, Mississippi:

Green pin - Approximate location of Mississippi Springs, Mississippi, where the 16th Ohio camped the night of July 21, 1863.
Yellow pin - Approximate location of the campsite of the 16th Ohio on the night of July 22, 1863.
Blue pin - Approximate location of Camp Alice, the campsite of the 16th Ohio on the night of July 23, 1863.