About the time of the attack on Holly Springs and Grant's subsequent withdraw from the attack on Vicksburg, there was a concern the Confederates would attack Memphis. The rumors and scuttlebutt swirled among the soldiers and the men of the 130th Illinois were on edge.
A comrade came running into the quarters of Charles Johnson, and excitedly announced that Confederate General Bragg was just outside the city with an army of ten thousand men, and he had demanded the Union surrender. Johnson's reaction to the news was practical at the time, but pretty humorous today:
I was at that time in the ranks, and, like nearly all soldiers, often played at cards for pastime. At this very juncture I had in my breast pocket a long-used pack of cards, and, of course, they were dirty and much soiled. One of the first things I did was to remove these, for how would it sound should I fall in battle to have it said: "In his breast pocket was found" not the Bible his mother handed him upon leaving home and bade him always carry in his knapsack, nor yet the picture of his affianced "but a deck of cards."
Well, the cards were removed, but I didn't fall ; didn't, indeed, have a chance to, for General Bragg didn't come near, nor ask the surrender of the city.
