their named were junius browne and albert richardson. and one night in may of 1863 they were desperately trying to catch up to general grant's army which was outside vicksburg ready to attack vicksburg. these two reporters, junius and albert, got on a barge that was going down the mississippi filled with bales of hay for grant's horses. the barge set out at night, so the confederates wouldn't see it. but, unfortunately, it was a night with a full moon, and it was really quite visible, and the confederates fired cannons at it. one of the shells hit the barge, exploded, killed about a dozen union soldiers, set the hay on fire, and junius and albert jumped into the river and attempted to float away. but the confederates sut boats and captu th and imprisoned them in various prisons for the next 20 months. and then they escaped from a prison in salisbury, north carolina, and with the help of slaves and pro-union bush whackers walked 300 miles over the appalachians to the union lines. so i read this, which was only about as long as what i've j