From my first enlistment I had possessed a strong desire to have a first-class rifle of the most modern improvement. The promise of such a gun was the principal condition on which I enlisted. It was several months after I enlisted before I received in exchange for my "handspike" (musket) the Enfield that was promised to me. My company officers, however, did all they could to furnish me with the promised gun. My long experience as a bear-hunter in the Western wilderness had made me expert with the rifle, and my desire to have a piece with which I could excel at sharp-shooting, if ever an opportunity offered, had become intense, and the organizing campaign against Vicksburg seemed to promise the desired opportunity. I went to General Grant and told him about the gun, and that I wished to purchase it and carry it. He asked me if I thought I could carry so valuable a piece without losing it. "I think I can," was my reply. "You lose mules, don't you?" "Yes, but I _capture mules_. I am several mules ahead of what the Government has furnished me now; but I can't capture Henry rifles." "Very well; tell General McPherson to get you the rifle." I saw General McPherson about it, and he gave me permission to purchase and carry it. It was a most beautiful piece, with steel barrel and chamber. The Captain who owned it was so much attached to it that he hated to part with it, but at last he yielded to my importunities, and sold me the rifle for sixty-five dollars, including what cartridges he had. My release from duty afforded me a splendid opportunity of practicing with it. I was perfectly delighted with its execution. Its accuracy and long range was a marvel compared with the best feats of marksmanship that I had seen among experienced hunters. A few days after I purchased the rifle, the grand move of the army against Vicksburg commenced. Several gun-boats and transports had already run the blockade of the formidable batteries that commanded the river. It was on the 25th day of April, 1863, at 6 o'clock, A. M., that the 2d Brigade of General Logan's Division, to which I belonged, moved from Milliken's Bend. That night the division bivouacked at Richmond, and the following night at Smith's plantation.