Vicksburg, Siege of

Vicksburg, Siege of (1863).The fall of New Orleans to Union forces during the Civil War in April 1862 made the bluff city of Vicksburg, Mississippi, the key to control of the Mississippi River. That summer, Union naval forces under Flag Officer David Farragut failed to reduce the bastion. Union army efforts to dig a bypass canal also proved unsuccessful. In December, a two‐pronged Union advance failed when Confederate cavalry destroyed Major General Ulysses S. Grant's supply base at Holly Springs and members of Vicksburg's garrison under Major General John C. Pemberton repulsed Major General William T. Sherman's assault at Chickasaw Bayou. On 1 May 1863, after several unsuccessful efforts, Grant finally managed to position most of his army southeast of Vicksburg. Union Colonel Benjamin H. Grierson's cavalry raid, together with conflicting orders from Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston and Confederate President Jefferson Davis, disconcerted Pemberton. His failure to lead his forces out of Vicksburg and join Johnston enabled Grant to defeat Confederate forces in a series of encounters at Port Gibson, Grand Gulf, Raymond, Jackson, Champion Hill, and, on 17 May, Big Black River. Grant assaulted Vicksburg's main defenses on 19 and 22 May. Bloodily repulsed both times, Grant then resorted to a siege that brought terrible suffering to the people of Vicksburg. On 4 July 1863, Grant accepted Pemberton's surrender of 2,166 officers, 27,230 enlisted men, 172 cannons, and 60,000 rifles. Grant's tenacity, substantial Union reinforcements, and Johnston's negligible efforts to relieve the garrison ensured Vicksburg's capitulation. This victory marked the beginning of Grant's rise to overall command of the Union army and ultimately to his ascent to the presidency. For the Confederacy, it was a severe psychological blow. The surrender of Port Hudson on 9 July split the Confederacy and brought the entire Mississippi River under Union control. The citizens of Vicksburg long remembered the round‐the‐clock bombardment, the starvation, and their diet of rats. Not until 1945 did the town again celebrate the Fourth of July, because of the date's grim associations.

Bibliography

Edwin C. Bearss , The Vicksburg Campaign, 3 vols., 1985–1986.

Lawrence Lee Hewitt