they had so recently been engaged in starving out. It was accepted with
avidity and with thanks.

Pemberton says in his report:

"If it should be asked why the 4th of July was selected as the day for
surrender, the answer is obvious. I believed that upon that day I
should obtain better terms. Well aware of the vanity of our foe, I knew
they would attach vast importance to the entrance on the 4th of July
into the stronghold of the great river, and that, to gratify their
national vanity, they would yield then what could not be extorted from
them at any other time."

This does not support my view of his reasons for selecting the day he
did for surrendering. But it must be recollected that his first letter
asking terms was received about 10 o'clock A.M., July 3d. It then could
hardly be expected that it would take twenty-four hours to effect a
surrender. He knew that Johnston was in our rear for the purpose of
raising the siege, and he naturally would want to hold out as long as he
could. He knew his men would not resist an assault, and one was
expected on the fourth. In our interview he told me he had rations
enough to hold out for some time--my recollection is two weeks. It was
this statement that induced me to insert in the terms that he was to
draw rations for his men from his own supplies.

On the 4th of July General Holmes, with an army of eight or nine
thousand men belonging to the trans-Mississippi department, made an
attack upon Helena, Arkansas. He was totally defeated by General
Prentiss, who was holding Helena with less than forty-two hundred
soldiers. Holmes reported his loss at 1,636, of which 173 were killed;