Life behind the Confederate lines was a far cry from the comfort experienced by the Union soldier whose duties were light with plenty of relief time for reading hometown newspapers, mail, and pilfered books. Food in the Federal lines was plentiful, though sometimes monotonous, whereas the Confederates ate whatever was available, even as the portions shrank steadily over the course of the siege.
Even so, there was a war going on and one Yankee soldier wrote,
"Everywhere I went I was met with the familiar zip, zip of rebel bullets flying promiscuously through the air."
