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This newspaper dated July 2,1863 was printed in the Confederate city of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Vicksburg was a fortress and was the last city the Confederacy held on the Mississippi River. Its big guns blocked Union ships from passing by. Union troops began besieging the city in earnest on June 25, 1863. The cut-off city quickly ran out of food. This article tells of a cat that was eaten for dinner and of extremely expensive black-market food. One day after this newspaper was written, July 3, the city fell to Union troops led by General Ulysses Grant. That was the same day General Robert E. Lee lost the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. That Union victory and the fall of Vicksburg meant that it was only a matter of time before the north would win the war.