At night the unending bombardment from Porter’s fleet provided the troops of both armies with an awesome pyrotechnic display. Especially popular with the pickets were the giant 13-inch mortar shells whose sputtering fuses described a tremendously high arc in the blackness before disappearing into the city. It was a “wonderful spectacle,” one soldier remembered, “to see the fuse from the shells—and you could see them plainly—the comet or star-like streams of fire and then hear them coming down into the doomed city. We used to watch them while on picket at night.” [Illustration: _Fort Hill, on the Confederate left flank above Vicksburg, commanding the bend of the Mississippi._] [Illustration: _South Fort, on the Confederate right flank below Vicksburg, overlooking the Mississippi._] [Illustration: _Each of Porter’s mortar boats carried one of these giant 17,000-pound mortars which hurled 200-pound shells into Vicksburg throughout the campaign and siege._ Courtesy National Archives.] [Illustration: _The _General Price_. This merchant steamer was converted into a ram by the Confederate Navy, captured by the Union Fleet at Memphis and used as a Federal gunboat against Vicksburg._ From _Photographic History of the Civil War_.] Only when the Union trenches approached close to the defensive works were determined efforts made to halt the Union threat. Then the Union sap rollers (woven cane cylinders filled with earth or cotton rolled in front of the open end of the trench to protect the work party) became targets for destruction. Fuses were set on artillery shells which were then rolled down against the sap rollers, or they were ignited by Minié balls dipped in turpentine. Occasional night sallies succeeded temporarily in driving off Union work parties and filling up trenches, but no daylight forays were attempted by the Confederates. CIVILIAN LIFE IN VICKSBURG DURING THE SIEGE. For the civilian population of Vicksburg, the siege was a grim and harrowing experience. Ordered to evacuate the city or prepare to face siege, many of the townspeople preferred to remain and share the fate of the army. They were joined by refugees accompanying the Confederate retreat into the city. Vicksburg had been subjected to periodic naval bombardment during the year of preliminary action and continuously during the siege. For relief and protection against shellfire, many of the townspeople occupied caves dug into the city’s plentiful hillsides.