1863

March: Maj. Gen. W.W. Loring commanded the 1st Division of Lt. Gen. J.C. Pemberton's Army of Mississippi. The 33rd was a part of the 2nd brigade commanded by Brig. Gen. W.S. Featherston.

Pemberton ordered Loring's division to stop the threat of Federal forces coming down the Tallahatchie River to Vicksburg. The 33rd boarded boats at Vicksburg, traveled up the Yazoo River to the mouth of the Sunflower and landed about 5 miles from the Federal gunboats at Deer Creek.

As Pvt. M.V. Kees (Co. C) recorded in his diary, there was a "great deal (of) heavy skirmishing and driving the enemy back, but no regular engagement...we followed them until they went back into the Mississippi River." Afterwards, the 33rd traveled by boats up the Yazoo River to Greenwood. [Featherston's report | Losses of the 33rd]


April: Most of the month was spent building breastworks around Fort Pemberton, outside of Greenwood. At the end of the month the regiment was transported by rail to Grenada, then south to Jackson.


May: Loring's division, along with two others, were concentrated at Edwards' Depot southwest of Jackson. On the 15th, the 33rd set out on the military road toward Raymond with 3 days of cooked rations in their haversacks. As night approached, the army bivouacked near Champion Hill. On the 16th, enemy demonstrations became serious and battle lines were drawn. The battle began in earnest around 10:00 a.m. Loring's division had been thrown back to cover the military road. Up to 2:30 p.m. Loring's command had not fired a gun. As Featherston's Brigade was moving to the left of Champion Hill, the order to retreat came. Unable to reach the bridge over Baker's Creek and not finding a place to cross the swollen river, the 33rd, cut off from the rest of the army, marched all night toward Crystal Springs. The following day they returned to Jackson, then to Canton. [33rd casualties]

July: After the fall of Vicksburg on the 4th, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's army fell back from the Big Black River to Jackson. By the 9th, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, with three corps of the Federal army were positioned on the outskirts of town. From the 10th to the 15th there was brisk, spirited skirmishing, as the siege began. The Federals pressed in and heavily shelled the city. The 33rd, along with the rest of Johnston's army, evacuated the city on the 16th, marching toward Brandon and finally halting about 3-4 miles west of Morton on the 18th.
[Vicksburg paroles | Jackson casualties]

For the remainder of the year the 33rd remained in central Mississippi at various camps --- Brandon, Canton, Enterprise, Morton, Meridian or Newton.

All photographs of Generals on this page are believed to be in the Public Domain.

For more information see Dr. Sidney W. Bondurant's
History of the 33rd Mississippi Infantry