A homicidal game of Catch!

[**The following takes place during the American Civil War battle, the Siege of Vicksburg.**] >The fragmented companies of Yankees continued to try to scale the hills, as rebels unleashed more sheet-lightning musketry – as well as flaming bales of cotton and ignited balls of twelve-pound shot, which they rolled down the hills with fuses sizzling. Some of the Yankees fielded the cannon balls like sparking baseballs and tried to hurl them back into the ditches. The rebels won the homicidal game of catch. The makeshift grenades finally discouraged the Union side. ____________________________ **Source:** Jenkins, Sally, and John Stauffer. “The Swamp and the Citadel.” *The State of Jones: The Small Southern County That Seceded from the Confederacy*. Anchor Books, 2010. 104. Print. ____________________________ **Further Reading:** [Siege of Vicksburg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Vicksburg)