Vicksburg, MS

Vicksburg, Mi., Warren co. Situated on the E. bank of the Mississippi. 50 miles N. N. E. from Natchez, and about 45 W. from Jackson, the capital of the state, with which it is connected by a railroad. The town is on a high bluff, about 200 feet above the river. The scenery is very fine from the bluffs in this neighborhood. The Walnut Hills, a little above Vicksburg, rise boldly, with alternate swells and gullies, to the height of nearly 500 feet, and form one of the most striking views met with by the traveler on the Lower Mississippi. (Gazetteer of the United States of America, 1854)
Place Unit Type
City or Town
Containing Unit
Date Type
- A commercial convention focusing on the slave trade is meeting in Vicksburg, Mississippi Slavery/Abolition
A commercial convention focusing on the slave trade opens in Vicksburg, Mississippi Slavery/Abolition
After forty-seven days of intense siege, Vicksburg surrenders to Grant's Army of the Tennessee Battles/Soldiers
After twice failing to storm the city, Union General Grant orders a siege at Vicksburg, Mississippi Battles/Soldiers
At Vicksburg, a large mine is exploded under defenses but an attempt at a Union breakthrough fails Battles/Soldiers
Former Civil War general William Ward Orme dies of tuberculosis at his home in Bloomington, Illinois. Personal
General Ulysses S. Grant fires his troublesome and ambitious subordinate, James A. McClernand Battles/Soldiers
In Mississippi, the mayor and defenders of Vicksburg reject U.S. Navy demands for the city's surrender Battles/Soldiers
- In Mississippi, the Siege of Vicksburg continues Battles/Soldiers
In the third river disaster in a week, the Mississippi steamboat "W.R. Carter" explodes and scores die Crime/Disasters
In Vicksburg, a disgruntled former employee shoots newspaper editor dead on the street Crime/Disasters
Mississippi militia at Vicksburg fire warning shots across bows of Cincinnati to New Orleans riverboat Battles/Soldiers
Mississippi steamboat catches fire in the middle of the night and forty-three people are drowned. Crime/Disasters
- Near Cairo, Illinois, fire completely destroys a steamboat carrying Army Paymasters and more than $2,000,000 Crime/Disasters
Off Vicksburg, the U.S.S. Cincinnati is sunk with heavy losses as six men win Medals of Honor Battles/Soldiers
On the Mississippi, near Memphis, the Steamboat "Sultana" explodes and up to 1,800 passengers and crew die Crime/Disasters
On the Mississippi, the Union's Army of the Tennessee completely surrounds Vicksburg Battles/Soldiers
Second Union attempt to take Vicksburg by infantry assault ends in bloody failure with 500 dead Battles/Soldiers
Steamboat with a cargo of sugar and coffee snags and sinks on the Mississippi Crime/Disasters
- The Southern Commercial Convention is meeting in Vicksburg, Mississippi with slavery high on the agenda Business/Industry
The steamboat Imperial arrives in New Orleans from St. Louis, the first since early 1861 Business/Industry
The Union's Army of the Tennessee attempts the storming of Vicksburg but is beaten back Battles/Soldiers
The Vicksburg Convention focusing on the slave trade closes with a vote to end restrictions on the African slave trade Slavery/Abolition
Twenty-nine year old Union Brigade commander George Boomer dies at the head of his troops Personal
With the Mississippi River open again to traffic, the steamboat Imperial departs St Louis for New Orleans Business/Industry
Burial Place of
Name Type
Cedar Hill Cemetery, Vicksburg, MS Location or Site
Date Title
New York Times, “Terrible Steamboat Disaster,” March 1, 1859
Memphis (TN) Appeal, “Later from the Wreck of the Princess,” March 27, 1859
New Orleans (LA) Picayune, “Levee Convention,” June 12, 1859
New York Herald, “The Blockade of the Mississippi River,” January 27, 1861
- William Elisha Stoker to Elizabeth E. Stoker, September 7-8, 1862
William Elisha Stoker to Elizabeth E. Stoker, December 13, 1862
William Elisha Stoker to Elizabeth E. Stoker, December 21, 1862
Entry by Cornelia Peake McDonald, January 20, 1863
William Elisha Stoker to Elizabeth E. Stoker, January 22, 1863
Cleveland (OH) Herald, “The Coming Siege of Vicksburg,” February 3, 1863
William Elisha Stoker to Elizabeth E. Stoker, February 4, 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
William Elisha Stoker to Elizabeth E. Stoker, May 29, 1863
John A. McClernand to Abraham Lincoln, May 29, 1863
New York Herald, “What is the Rebel Army of Virginia About?,” May 31, 1863
Thomas Ewing to Abraham Lincoln, June 6, 1863
Ulysses S. Grant to Lorenzo Thomas, June 16, 1863
William Elisha Stoker to Elizabeth E. Stoker, June 17, 1863
Henry Ginder to Mary Ginder, June 28, 1863
Recollection by William T. Sherman, Siege of Vicksburg Ends, July 4, 1863
Raleigh (NC) Register, “The News,” July 8, 1863
Abraham Lincoln to Ulysses Simpson Grant, July 13, 1863
William Elisha Stoker to Elizabeth E. Stoker, July 14, 1863
George D. Chenoweth to James W. Marshall, July 15, 1863
New Haven (NH) Palladium,“Port Hudson,” July 16, 1863
New York Times, “Gen. Banks,” July 17, 1863
William Elisha Stoker to Elizabeth E. Stoker, July 18, 1863
William Elisha Stoker to Elizabeth E. Stoker, July 29, 1863
Otto C. Bardon, Reminiscences of the Sultana Disaster, April 27, 1865
Chief Engineer Nathan Witringer, Reminiscences of the Sultana Disaster, April 27, 1865, written on April 14, 1886.
How to Cite This Page: "Vicksburg, MS," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/15436.