Vicksburg Campaign

Vicksburg Campaign (Divine, 2007)

Textbook
In the West, however, a major Union triumph was taking shape. For more than a year, General Ulysses S. Grant had been trying to put his forces in position to capture Vicksburg, Mississippi, the almost inaccessible Confederate bastion that kept the North from controlling the Mississippi River. Finally, in late March 1863, he crossed to the west bank north of the city and moved his forces to a point south of it, where he joined up with naval forces that had run the Confederate batteries mounted on Vicksburg’s high bluffs. In one of the boldest campaigns of the war, Grant crossed the river, deliberately cutting himself off from his sources of supply, and marched into the interior of Mississippi. Living off the land and out of communication with an anxious and perplexed Lincoln, his troops won a series of victories over two separate Confederate armies and advanced on Vicksburg from the east. After unsuccessfully assaulting the city’s defenses, Grant settled down for a siege on May 22.
Robert A. Divine et al., eds., The American Story, 3rd ed. (2 vols., New York: Pearson Education, Inc., 2007), 1: 398.
Date Event
At the Big Black River Bridge, Union troops sweep aside a blocking force covering the Confederate retreat to Vicksburg
On the Mississippi, the Union's Army of the Tennessee completely surrounds Vicksburg
The Union's Army of the Tennessee attempts the storming of Vicksburg but is beaten back
Second Union attempt to take Vicksburg by infantry assault ends in bloody failure with 500 dead
Twenty-nine year old Union Brigade commander George Boomer dies at the head of his troops
The Union Army's Marine Brigade burns the town of Austin, Mississippi for sheltering rebel forces
After twice failing to storm the city, Union General Grant orders a siege at Vicksburg, Mississippi
- In Mississippi, the Siege of Vicksburg continues
Off Vicksburg, the U.S.S. Cincinnati is sunk with heavy losses as six men win Medals of Honor
General Ulysses S. Grant fires his troublesome and ambitious subordinate, James A. McClernand
At Vicksburg, a large mine is exploded under defenses but an attempt at a Union breakthrough fails
After forty-seven days of intense siege, Vicksburg surrenders to Grant's Army of the Tennessee
At the port town of Helena, Arkansas, defenders inflict heavy losses on a Confederate assault
With the Mississippi River open again to traffic, the steamboat Imperial departs St Louis for New Orleans
Union troops occupy Natchez, Mississippi, further ensuring the opening of the Mississippi River
The steamboat Imperial arrives in New Orleans from St. Louis, the first since early 1861
Mississippi
Vicksburg, MS
Date Title
Cleveland (OH) Herald, “The Coming Siege of Vicksburg,” February 3, 1863
Entry by Anonymous, Vicksburg, Mississippi, May 1, 1863
Natchez (MS) Courier, “Yankee Fiendishness,” May 6, 1863
New York Herald, “The Pen and the Sword,” May 17, 1863
- Recollection by Ulysses S. Grant, Siege of Vicksburg, May – July 4, 1863
John A. McClernand to Abraham Lincoln, May 29, 1863
Thomas Ewing to Abraham Lincoln, June 6, 1863
Henry Ginder to Mary Ginder, June 28, 1863
Recollection by William T. Sherman, Siege of Vicksburg Ends, July 4, 1863
Abraham Lincoln, Response to a Serenade, July 7, 1863
Abraham Lincoln to Ulysses Simpson Grant, July 13, 1863
Abraham Lincoln to George Gordon Meade, July 14, 1863
New Haven (NH) Palladium,“Port Hudson,” July 16, 1863
New York Times, “Gen. Banks,” July 17, 1863
Recollection by Ulysses S. Grant, Siege of Vicksburg, May – July 4, 1863
Chicago Style Entry Link
Grant, Ulysses S. Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant. 2 vols. New York: Charles L. Webster & Co., 1885–86.
 View Record
Woodworth, Steven E. Decision in the Heartland: The Civil War in the West. Wesport, CT: Praeger, 2008.
 View Record
Ballard, Michael B.Vicksburg: The Campaign That Opened the Mississippi. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004. View Record
Cable, George W., ed. “A Woman’s Diary of the Siege of Vicksburg.” Century 30, no. 5 (September 1885): 767-776. View Record
Grant, Ulysses S. “The Siege of Vicksburg.” Century 30, no. 5 (September 1885): 752-767. View Record
How to Cite This Page: "Vicksburg Campaign," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/29670.