May 30, 1863, The Charleston Mercury
LATEST NEWS FROM VICKSBURG.
JACKSON, MISS, May 25 – (To the Mobile Advertiser.) – Com. BROWN sunk four boats in Yazoo River, which blockaded it, saving all the others.
The Mississippian publishes a statement that it was MARMADUKE, not PRICE, who captured Helena. It is reported that he hung a negro regiment, officers and men. The fact of the capture is doubted, and it is believed the news comes from Memphis. There has been no boat up the river to Memphis for five days.
The Federals have been so severely punished in their different assaults upon Vicksburg, that they have fallen back and gone to fortifying. – Their numerous dead still lie on the field, and the stench is awful. Their loss is variously estimated at from 10,000 to 25,000 men. They are reported to be hauling siege guns from Snyder’s Bluff.
They told their troops that Richmond was taken, and that all they had to do was to take Vicksburg and end the war. They were shelling this morning.