TabsNote Cards Vicksburg Campaign (Divine, 2007) TextbookIn 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. Events Date Event 05/17/1863 At the Big Black River Bridge, Union troops sweep aside a blocking force covering the Confederate retreat to Vicksburg 05/18/1863 On the Mississippi, the Union's Army of the Tennessee completely surrounds Vicksburg 05/19/1863 The Union's Army of the Tennessee attempts the storming of Vicksburg but is beaten back 05/22/1863 Twenty-nine year old Union Brigade commander George Boomer dies at the head of his troops 05/22/1863 Second Union attempt to take Vicksburg by infantry assault ends in bloody failure with 500 dead 05/24/1863 The Union Army's Marine Brigade burns the town of Austin, Mississippi for sheltering rebel forces 05/25/1863 After twice failing to storm the city, Union General Grant orders a siege at Vicksburg, Mississippi 05/26/1863 to 07/03/1863 In Mississippi, the Siege of Vicksburg continues 05/27/1863 Off Vicksburg, the U.S.S. Cincinnati is sunk with heavy losses as six men win Medals of Honor 06/18/1863 General Ulysses S. Grant fires his troublesome and ambitious subordinate, James A. McClernand 06/25/1863 At Vicksburg, a large mine is exploded under defenses but an attempt at a Union breakthrough fails 07/04/1863 After forty-seven days of intense siege, Vicksburg surrenders to Grant's Army of the Tennessee 07/04/1863 At the port town of Helena, Arkansas, defenders inflict heavy losses on a Confederate assault 07/08/1863 With the Mississippi River open again to traffic, the steamboat Imperial departs St Louis for New Orleans 07/13/1863 Union troops occupy Natchez, Mississippi, further ensuring the opening of the Mississippi River 07/16/1863 The steamboat Imperial arrives in New Orleans from St. Louis, the first since early 1861 People Adams, Daniel Weisiger Adams, John Baldwin, William Edwin Barton, Seth Maxwell Benton, William Plummer Blair, Francis Preston, Jr. Boomer, George Boardman Bowen, John Stevens Breckinridge, John Cabell Buford, Abraham Burbridge, Stephen Gano Cockrell, Francis Marion Cumming, Alfred Jr. Dockery, Thomas Pleasant Ector, Matthew Duncan Evans, Nathan George Featherston, Winfield Scott Ferrero, Edward Forney, John Horace French, William Henry Garrard, Theophilus Toulmin Grant, Ulysses Simpson Green, Martin Edwin Gregg, John Helm, Benjamin Hardin Herron, Francis Jay Jackson, William Hicks Johnston, Joseph Eggleston Lauman, Jacob Gartner Lee, Stephen Dill Pages1 2 3 next › last » PlacesMississippiVicksburg, MS Documents Date Title 02/03/1863 Cleveland (OH) Herald, “The Coming Siege of Vicksburg,” February 3, 1863 05/01/1863 Entry by Anonymous, Vicksburg, Mississippi, May 1, 1863 05/06/1863 Natchez (MS) Courier, “Yankee Fiendishness,” May 6, 1863 05/17/1863 New York Herald, “The Pen and the Sword,” May 17, 1863 05/25/1863 to 07/04/1863 Recollection by Ulysses S. Grant, Siege of Vicksburg, May – July 4, 1863 05/29/1863 John A. McClernand to Abraham Lincoln, May 29, 1863 06/06/1863 Thomas Ewing to Abraham Lincoln, June 6, 1863 06/28/1863 Henry Ginder to Mary Ginder, June 28, 1863 07/04/1863 Recollection by William T. Sherman, Siege of Vicksburg Ends, July 4, 1863 07/07/1863 Abraham Lincoln, Response to a Serenade, July 7, 1863 07/13/1863 Abraham Lincoln to Ulysses Simpson Grant, July 13, 1863 07/14/1863 Abraham Lincoln to George Gordon Meade, July 14, 1863 07/16/1863 New Haven (NH) Palladium,“Port Hudson,” July 16, 1863 07/17/1863 New York Times, “Gen. Banks,” July 17, 1863 11/03/1863 Recollection by Ulysses S. Grant, Siege of Vicksburg, May – July 4, 1863 Images Siege of Vicksburg, 1863 Vicksburg, Mississippi, 1863, zoomable map Vicksburg, Mississippi, June 1863, artist's impression, zoomable image Vicksburg Campaign, November 1862 to April 1863, campaign map, zoomable image Vicksburg Campaign, December 1862 and January 1863, campaign map, zoomable image Vicksburg Campaign, January-April, 1863, campaign map, zoomable image Vicksburg Campaign, May 19, 1862, campaign map, zoomable image The Siege of Vicksburg, May 22, 1863 and July 3, 1863, campaign map, zoomable image The Siege of Vicksburg, July 3, 1863, battle map, zoomable image The Siege of Vicksburg, May 22, 1863 and July 3, 1863, campaign map, zoomable image Pursuit of Confederate forces after the fall of Vicksburg, July 1863, campaign map, zoomable image Fighting with hand-grenades during the siege of Vicksburg, June 13, 1863, artist's impression, zoomable image Fighting with hand-grenades during the siege of Vicksburg, June 13, 1863, artist's impression, detail Close fighting after the detonation of a mine under Fort Hill, Vicksburg, June 1863, artist's impression Close fighting after the detonation of a mine under Fort Hill, Vicksburg, June 1863, artist's impression, detail Surrender of Vicksburg, Mississippi, meeting of Generals Pemberton and Grant, July 4, 1863, artist's impression, zoomable image Surrender of Vicksburg, Mississippi, meeting of Generals Pemberton and Grant, July 4, 1863, artist's impression, detail Union saps advancing on Vicksburg's defenses, June 1863, artist's impression, zoomable image Union saps advancing on Vicksburg's defenses, June 1863, artist's impression, detail Attack of Union troops under General Sherman on Vicksburg fortifications, May 22, 1863, artist's impression, zoomable image Battery Powell, Illinois artillery besieging Vicksburg, Mississippi, June 1863, artist's impression Battery Powell, Illinois artillery besieging Vicksburg, Mississippi, June 1863, artist's impression, detail View of the Vicksburg defenses, including Fort Hill, June 1863, artist's impression, zoomable image Explosion of the mine beneath Fort Hill, Vicksburg, Mississippi, June 25, 1863, artist's impression, zoomable image Union mining operations under Fort Hill, Vicksburg, Mississippi, late June 1863, artist's impression Grenade attack disrupts Union mining operations against Fort Hill, Vicksburg, Mississippi, late June 1863, artist's impression Confederate emissaries requesting surrender negotiations, Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 1863, artist's impression Grant and Pemberton discussing surrender terms, Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 1863, artist's impression, zoomable image Grant and Pemberton discussing surrender terms, Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 1863, artist's impression, detail The Federal fleet docks at the levee at Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 4, 1863, artist's impression, zoomable image The Federal fleet docks at the levee at Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 4, 1863, artist's impression, detail Right of Union line, Vicksburg, Mississippi, June 1863, artist's impression, zoomable image Right of Union line, Vicksburg, Mississippi, June 1863, artist's impression, detail View of Vicksburg, Mississippi after the surrender, July 1863, artist's impression, zoomable image View of Vicksburg, Mississippi after the surrender, July 1863, artist's impression, detail Confederate garrison marching out after surrender, Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 4, 1863, artist's impression, zoomable image Confederate garrison marching out after surrender, Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 4, 1863, artist's impression, detail Bibliography Chicago Style Entry Link 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. Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant. 2 vols. New York: Charles L. Webster & Co., 1885–86. View Record Grant, Ulysses S. “The Siege of Vicksburg.” Century 30, no. 5 (September 1885): 752-767. View Record
Vicksburg Campaign (Divine, 2007) TextbookIn 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.
Fighting with hand-grenades during the siege of Vicksburg, June 13, 1863, artist's impression, zoomable image
Fighting with hand-grenades during the siege of Vicksburg, June 13, 1863, artist's impression, detail
Close fighting after the detonation of a mine under Fort Hill, Vicksburg, June 1863, artist's impression
Close fighting after the detonation of a mine under Fort Hill, Vicksburg, June 1863, artist's impression, detail
Surrender of Vicksburg, Mississippi, meeting of Generals Pemberton and Grant, July 4, 1863, artist's impression, zoomable image
Surrender of Vicksburg, Mississippi, meeting of Generals Pemberton and Grant, July 4, 1863, artist's impression, detail
Attack of Union troops under General Sherman on Vicksburg fortifications, May 22, 1863, artist's impression, zoomable image
Battery Powell, Illinois artillery besieging Vicksburg, Mississippi, June 1863, artist's impression, detail
Explosion of the mine beneath Fort Hill, Vicksburg, Mississippi, June 25, 1863, artist's impression, zoomable image
Grenade attack disrupts Union mining operations against Fort Hill, Vicksburg, Mississippi, late June 1863, artist's impression
Confederate emissaries requesting surrender negotiations, Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 1863, artist's impression
Grant and Pemberton discussing surrender terms, Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 1863, artist's impression, zoomable image
Grant and Pemberton discussing surrender terms, Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 1863, artist's impression, detail
The Federal fleet docks at the levee at Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 4, 1863, artist's impression, zoomable image
The Federal fleet docks at the levee at Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 4, 1863, artist's impression, detail
Confederate garrison marching out after surrender, Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 4, 1863, artist's impression, zoomable image
Confederate garrison marching out after surrender, Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 4, 1863, artist's impression, detail
