VICKSBURG

Vicksburg was a tough nut to crack. Grant had originally started his first Vicksburg Campaign in November 1862 by starting out from LaGrange Tennessee. His goal was to take Vicksburg from the eastern side of the Mississippi. He eventually had to turn back because Nathan Bedford Forrest and Earl Van Dorn destroyed his supply lines in West Tennessee and Holly Springs Mississippi. Grant was forced to march back after a failed attempt by Sherman to take Vicksburg by attacking Chickasaw Bluffs. Sherman learned a valuable lesson on this failed campaign. The Union Army didn't need supply lines because they could live off the land. He applied this principle in his later Meridian Campaign and his March to the Sea. All through that winter of 1863 Grant tried various ways to take Vicksburg but with no success. Even though he wasn't hopeful of success he was able to keep his troops active and healthy during a season that is usually unhealthy for inactive troops in winter quarters. Then in the Spring he devised a brilliant plan. He would cross over to the western side of the Mississippi, and travel down the river until he arrived opposite of Bruinsburg Mississippi. There Grant would cross over on transports after the Union Navy under Admiral David Porter was able to bypass the guns along the bluffs at Vicksburg. After a series of battles he was able to hold off General Joseph Johnston and drive the Confederate forces under General John Pemberton, a Pennsylvania native, into Vicksburg where they were bottled up by both the Union Army and Navy.

 The siege lasted from May 18, 1863 until July 4, 1863. Both soldiers and civilians living in Vicksburg suffered extreme hunger, and deprivation. Soldiers and civilians were killed by bombardment from both land and naval artillery bombardment. They were forced to live like rats in holes dug out of the bluffs to protect them from the shells. The Confederate Army surrendered on July 4 and Grant captured over 30,000 men. We visited Vicksburg in 2007. I was not all that impressed with the town. There were shacks everywhere sitting alongside fine old antebellum mansions. These mansions were everywhere. There was much to see during the day but little to do at night unless you liked to gamble because there were several riverboat casino's. The closest movie theater was 40 miles away and the local mall was a dump. We ate in one restaurant that was an antebellum house. You could still see damage from union artillery shells but the food was good. I can say that I have seen Vicksburg but I would never go back. Gettysburg however was a place I would love to visit again and again. The first picture is of the Union fleet slipping by the Confederate guns on the bluffs of Vicksburg. The second is Vicksburg National Battlefield Park. The third is the Yazoo River that now passes in front of Vicksburg. Over the years the course of the Mississippi has changed and it no longer flows by Vicksburg.

Porters fleet bypassing the Confederate guns

  This is the Shirley House during the siege of Vicksburg, the house today and the Shirley family. Notice the bomb shelters that were dug in the side of the hill for protection from artillery shells. On May 18, 1863 as the Confederate Army retreated into Vicksburg soldiers were ordered to burn all the houses and buildings in front of the Confederate lines. All of the Shirley outbuildings and barns were burnt but the soldier assigned to burn the house was shot by Union troops before he could apply the torch. Adeline Shirley, her fifteen year old son and several servants were trapped in the house by a crossfire between the Union and Confederate troops. For three days they hid in a chimney corner until finally they were able to raise a white flag and hang it from the porch. They were rescued by nearby Union troops.

The Shirley family

After the Confederates retreated into Vicksburg earthworks their lines were nearly impregnable. Grant tried twice to break through the lines which ended in disaster. The Union Army began digging tunnels under the Confederate lines in order to place explosives to blow a hole in the Confederate earthworks. On June 25 they set off a charge that consisted of 2,200 pounds of gunpowder. A Confederate soldier left the following account. "A huge mass of earth suddenly, and with tremendous force and terrific explosion, flew upwards, descending with mighty power upon the gallant defenders, burying numbers beneath it's falling fragments, bruising and mangling them most horribly. It seemed as if all hell had suddenly yawned upon the devoted band, and vomited forth it's sulphurous fire and smoke upon them." Although the Confederate lines had been breached the Union attack failed. On July 1st another charge was set off in the same area. The Confederates had slaves digging counter tunnels trying to find the Union tunnels because they were able to hear the sound of digging. The explosion killed most of the slaves but a slave named Abraham was blown high into the air landing on his back in Union lines. With the exception of bruising on the back of his head and shoulders, which took the greatest impact upon landing in soft dirt, he was okay. Again the Union attack failed but it didn't matter because Pemberton surrendered three days later. 

Abraham

There were seven gunboats built by the Union named after cities along the Mississippi. In 1964 the USS Cairo was found in the Yazoo River and raised in 1965. It was given to Vicksburg National Battlefield in 1972. The ship was sunk by a Confederate water mine on December 12, 1862 and sunk in 36 feet of water. It was the first warship in history to be sunk by an electrically detonated mine. These gunboats were huge, sporting thirteen guns.

USS Cairo

  July 3, and 4, 1863 were horrible days for the Confederacy because Lee was defeated at Gettysburg on the 3rd and Vicksburg fell to Grant on the 4th. Actually in my view Vicksburg was a more decisive victory for the Union than Gettysburg. Union farmers and manufacturers had suffered economic hardship early in the war because they couldn't get their goods to market using the Mississippi river. This contributed to anti-war sentiment in the mid-west and was beneficial to the Southern war effort. Secondly after Vicksburg fell the South was unable to move large quantities of men, supplies, and food across the river from Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas. People considered the Mississippi the spine of America. When Lincoln heard the joyful news about Vicksburg he sighed "Thank God" "The Father of waters again goes unvexed to the sea".

The American flying again after the surrender