say, conditions in the Confederate forces were even worse, as their logistics system was not nearly as well-supplied or developed as its Federal counterpart. Dissention in the ranks In another letter, Rice describes the antipathy many Federal soldiers felt following the issuance of Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863: In subsequent paragraphs, Rice voraciously attacks Northern "Copperheads", referring to them as "damning traitors" and saying they should be "choked down and served as we serve them down here." He goes on to say that four men in his own regiment are Copperheads (in his estimation), describing them as "weak-kneed, weak-backed ones who were scared into the Service through fear of the draft." He ends, however on a note of guarded optimism that the government will overcome the "arch-traitors" and "rise like the morning mist, and show the world that America still stands with its government and institutions stronger better dearer than ever." Grant and Sherman During the Siege of Vicksburg, Rice wrote down his impressions of Ulysses S. Grant's generalship, together with his opinion of the rampant rumors of his drunkenness earlier in the war: Rice later recorded his opinion of William T. Sherman's generalship, speaking of the "invincible Wm Sherman," and reporting that "wherever he goes, the soldiers greet him with cheer on cheers, shouting what the heroes of Vicksburg think of him ... suffice it that we are all willing to follow him to victory or death." Rice does not indicate how much this glowing opinion of his leaders was shared by his comrades in Battery E, or what their views might have been. His assessment of Grant's talent certainly proved well-founded, as Grant would be elevated to General-in-Chief of all Federal armies the following year, and go on to lead the North to victory two years later. Sherman would equally go on to success and fame in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. The dark side Looting has been a pastime for soldiers of every century, and the Civil War was certainly no exception. Not all Union or Confederate troopers fit the popular image of a citizen-soldier fighting for a noble cause; some were simply criminals in uniform. Several such men seem to have found their way into Battery E and its sister units during the winter of 1863–64, as Private Rice relates in a letter to his wife: Rice further elaborates on gangs of muggers