Downing’s Civil War Diary.–Alexander G. Downing.

Monday, 11th–We started this morning at 5 o’clock and marched about eight miles, when we stacked our arms until 3 p. m. We continued our march to Perkins’s Landing about forty-five miles below Vicksburg as the river runs, or twenty miles as the crow flies. Here we bivouacked for the night. The country here is very low and often overflows. The large plantations, such as Perkins’s, Holmes’s and Jeff Davis’s, are usually planted to cotton. The work is all done by slaves driven by overseers who live on the plantations, while the owners, planters, reside in more healthy localities.