The Vicksburg campaign comprised a series of battles that were enacted from 1862 to 1863.During the American Civil War, the Siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi, was the culmination of a lengthy land and sea campaign by Union forces to occupy key strategic positions. The American Civil War, aka the American War, was a four-year war (1861-65) between the United States and the 11 southern states that broke away from the Union to form the CSA.The US Civil War has been fought for several years and on various battlefields across the country, but the Siege of Vicksburg is one of the most famous. Vicksburg was ’the nail that held the two Southern hemispheres together’ for Confederate President Jefferson Davis. President Abraham Lincoln knew the importance of a city nestled on a cliff 200 ft (61 m) above the Mississippi River. He said, ‘Vicksburg is the key; the war will never end until this key is in our pockets.’ The conquest of Vicksburg would separate the Trans-Mississippi Confederation from this eastern Mississippi and open the river to northern traffic along its length. But it was indeed not an easy task to capture Vicksburg. The Vicksburg Campaign began in 1862, and the war ended with the Confederate surrender. With the loss of General John C. Pemberton’s Confederate army following the siege of Vicksburg and the Union victory five days later at Port Hudson, the Union controlled the Mississippi River, and the Confederacy was divided in two. Grant’s victory resulted in continued command of eastern Tennessee and his eventual appointment as commander-in-chief of the Union armies. 75,000 Union troops and 34,000 Confederate troops were involved in the Vicksburg campaign.As part of the battlefield preservation, work around Vicksburg is now managed by the National Park Service, part of the Vicksburg National Military Park. This park is located in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and Delta, Louisiana.The Grant Canal area was where the Union Army tried to build a canal to allow their ships to pass through Confederate artillery fire. The Civil War Trust (a division of the American Battlefield Trust) and its partners have acquired and maintained 0.018 mi sq (0.049 km²) of Vicksburg Battlefield. Vicksburg National Cemetery became the cemetery of 17,000 Union soldiers and is recorded as the largest number of soldiers cremated in any national cemetery.Read on to know more facts about Vicksburg’s Battle. Also, read our articles on the Battle of Verdun and the Battle of Stalingrad.Battle Of Vicksburg Time, Date, Place, Reason, And Who FoughtVicksburg’s battle was fought from the United States. Pemberton kept trying to stop the Union attack on Champion Hill and the Confederate States. Vicksburg’s battle took place in Warren County, Mississippi.It happened between May 18, 1863, and July 4, 1863. The United States’ victory at the Vicksburg’s battle removed the last major Confederate stronghold and gave them complete control of the Mississippi River. At the start of the Vicksburg War, the United States had about 77,000 groups and the Confederate States about 33,000 groups. The war in Vicksburg claimed a total of 8,037 deaths. The United States has 4,835 victims, 766 killed, 3,793 injured, and 276 prisoners or missing. The Confederate States had 32,697 victims, of which 3,202 were killed, injured, or missing, and 29,495 of their soldiers were captured as prisoners of war. They lost 172 guns from the United States after the Vicksburg War. After the United States’ victory in the Vicksburg war, then United States President Lincoln quoted, ‘The Father of Waters again goes unvexed to the sea’.Who won the Battle of Vicksburg?Vicksburg’s battle was followed by Union victory. Lieutenant-General Pemberton and the Confederate forces were outnumbered, and supplies were falling. Innocent civilians were forced to take refuge in caves hewn in the hills. So, on July 4, 1863, forty-seven days later, Pemberton surrendered to the General Grant. Along with the Union victory at Gettysburg the day before, Vicksburg’s Union Army victory marked a game-changer in the fortunes. Pemberton surrendered on July 4, 1863, and President Lincoln wrote that the Mississippi River was “flowing back into the sea”. The Confederacy was irreparably divided into East and West. The victory in 1863 at the Siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi gave the Union control in the American Civil War of the Mississippi River.Pemberton discovered that the Confederate government no longer wanted him to be high commander, and most notably, he resigned from his commission and tried to re-engage as a person. Instead, Southern President Jefferson Davis appointed him an artillery lieutenant colonel. On the same July 4, Robert E. Lee’s army withdrew to Virginia after being defeated at the Battle of Gettysburg; Helena, Arkansas, falls from the Union Forces; and General William C. Rosecrans forced the Tennessee Confederate Army to withdraw from the central Tennessee area of Chattanooga, north of the state of Georgia.The Generals In The Battle Of VicksburgGenerals who participated in Vicksburg War were Major General Ulysses S. Grant from Union and Lt. General John C. Pemberton from Confederate.Maj. General Ulysses S. Grant won the Battle of Belmont, Battle of Fort Henry, Battle of Fort Donelson, Battle of Champion Hill, Chattanooga Campaign, Battle of Shiloh, Overland Campaign, Petersburg Campaign, Appomattox Campaign, and the Vicksburg Campaign.The battle of Vicksburg is considered a turning point in the civil war, why?One of General Grant’s operations was to find a weak point in the Confederate lines to attack Vicksburg from the north but failed. Then he ordered most of his army to pass the Mississippi River and march along the west bank of the river until the Union troops were south of the city. The Union ships in April 1863 sailed north of Vicksburg in Mississippi. Troops had to rendezvous with the United Naval Troops transporting the river to cross the territory of Confederate. On the night of April 16, Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter dragged his Union fleet past the Confederate battery at Vicksburg to meet with Grant. As the boat circled De Soto Point, Confederate observers spotted them and sounded the alarm. Yet every ship was struck by Confederate fire. Porter’s fleet made it past the Confederate battery and met up with Grant.On April 29, Union troops attempted to cross the Mississippi into the Grand Gulf. In the largest water operation ever conducted by US forces before World War II, Grant and Porter moved 24,000 men and 60 cannons from the west bank to the east coast. The United fleet bombed the Confederate defenses for 5 hours, but Grant’s armies were repulsed. In search of a more convenient crossing point, Grant moved further south and eventually found him in Bruinsburg. In the early hours of April 30, Indiana’s twenty-fourth and forty-sixth infantry regiments entered the Mississippi. The two sides met at Port Gibson and Raymond. In early May, Grant marched with his army down the west bank of the river against Vicksburg, crossed back into the Mississippi, and drove into Jackson. After defeating Confederate forces near Jackson, Grant turned to Vicksburg. Jackson’s capital, Mississippi, is in Union hands until May 14. The Vicksburg campaign began on May 16, Grant collided with Pemberton’s soldiers, and they shot each other on Champion Hill. On May 17, they collided again on the bridge over the Big Black River Bridge. The Confederate troops failed in their attempt. The armed Union forces were almost 40,000 and far outnumbered the Confederates. In the first weeks of May 1863, Pemberton lost nearly half of his forty thousand soldiers in Grant’s army. In the third week of May 1863, Union troops pushed the Confederacy into Vicksburg.On May 18, seeking a quick victory, unwilling to give Pemberton time to organize his garrison, Grant ordered an immediate attack. Of his three corps, only Major General William T. Sherman’s 15th Corps was in an attacking position northeast of the city.May 19, Sherman’s attack centered on Stockade Redan, named after the wooden fence wall above Graveyard Road that connects the two gun positions. Here the 27th Louisiana Infantry, reinforced by Colonel Francis Cockrell’s Missouri Brigade, served in the rifle bay. Sherman’s men advanced down the street at two o’clock in the afternoon and immediately broke the chasm and obstacles in front of Redan. Outside of Confederate affairs, the struggle was fierce and bloody. The United States thirteenth infantry raised their flag but was unable to advance. Sherman’s men backed off. Undaunted by this failure, Grant took a deeper defensive line before ordering another attack.May 22, Early in the morning, Union gunboats artillery opened fire and bombarded the city’s defenses for four hours. At 10 a.m. the cannon fell silent and the Union infantry advanced three miles ahead. Sherman attacked the cemetery again, Major General James B. McPherson’s Corps marched downtown on Jackson Road, and Major General John A. McLernand’s Corps attacked Lunette and the railroad redoubt in Second Texas where the Southern Railroad hit the Confederate Lines. Surrounded by a 9.8 ft (3 m) deep moat and 19.6 ft (6 m) high wall, the fort offers cover fire for rifles and artillery. After intense hand-to-hand combat, federal authorities broke through the railroad redoubt and took several prisoners into custody. Victory, however, was the only Confederate position taken that day.Grant’s failed attack left him with no choice but to invest Vicksburg in the siege. For weeks, Pemberton’s defenders suffered from reduced rations, weather conditions, and constant bombardment from Grant’s Army and Navy warships. Diseases and casualties reduced; the Vicksburg garrison was very thin. Civilians were badly affected and many were forced to live in roughly dug caves due to the intense fires.Following Grant’s orders to dig tunnels and place explosives in Confederate construction, Union pioneers detonated a 2,200 lb (998 kg) gunpowder mine, causing a massive explosion. After roughly 20 hours of hand-to-hand combat in the 12 ft (3.6 m) deep crater left by the explosion, Union forces were unable to advance and retreat to their lines. The siege continues.Confederate soldiers and civilians trapped in Vicksburg grappled with dwindling food and ammunition supplies, frequent bombings, and disease. July 3-4. In a difficult situation for the Confederacy, Grant and Pemberton clashed between their ranks. Grant insisted on unconditional surrender, but Pemberton refused. Later that night, Grant contemplated and suggested parole for Confederate defenders. On July 4, the 47-day siege of Vicksburg ended.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Battle Of Vicksburg: curious facts on the American Civil war for kids then why not take a look at all about Ohio: 53 facts on the Ohio city that will amaze you! or algorithm for kids: learn how to develop logical thinking skills.
The Vicksburg campaign comprised a series of battles that were enacted from 1862 to 1863.
