By : Aden M cK inney

BATTLE OF VICKSBURG

The ba t t le o f V icksburg was fough t in Vicksburg , Miss iss ipp i (on the eas t o f the Miss iss ipp i R ive r ) f rom May 19 , 1863 to Ju ly 4 , 1863 .

The reason the Con federa te su r rendered on Ju ly 4 t h was because Genera l John C. Pember ton had hoped i t wou ld b r ing more sympathe t i c te rms to the Un i ted S ta tes .

THE BEGINNING OF THE BATTLE

There were a lot of things leading up to the Battle of Vicksburg. The Battle of Vicksburg was part of a two year effort by the Union to seize control of the Mississippi River. It was so important to do this because if they won this battle they would have total control of the river there for cutting off supplies for part of the south. If the Confederacy won this battle though they would keep control of the river which would supply more food to the Confederate states. Before the Civil War the Mississippi River was one of the most important commercial arteries in the United States.

Union StrategiesThere wasn ’ t j us t one s t ra tegy to

s to rm the o the r s ide . The Un ion had a coup le d i f fe ren t s t ra teg ies inc lud ing d igg ing a cana l to cu t o f f t he r i ve r and mov ing sou th to t ry to cu t o f f the r i ve r f rom the gu l f where they had con t ro l o f i t . A f te r t ry ing these and o the r s t ra teg ies tha t d idn ’ t work they even tua l l y se t t led in to a s iege .

Confederate Strategies

The Con federacy had no s t ra tegy, they jus t se t t led in a bunker and t r ied to de fend themse lves and the i r t own .

STRATEGIES FOR THE BATTLE

Now the Un ion i s inch ing the i r way fo rward by mak ing z ig -zag t renches and comp le te ly des t roy ing fo r t s by pu t t ing mines under them. One o f the fo r t s , t he 3 r d Lou is iana Redan , (a Redan is a t r iangu la r fo r t i f i ca t ion ) was des t royed bu t the so ld ie rs ins ide heard d igg ing under them and go t ou t be fo re the mine exp loded . A f te r the mine exp loded they pu t on a coun te ra t tack .

Gran t t r ied to s to rm Vicksburg tw ice be fo re se t t l i ng in to jus t s ieg ing i t .

THE UNION IS COMING!

Ulysses S. GrantWas born on Apr i l 27 , 1822 .

Gran t was in the a rmy un t i l he res igned in 1854 bu t when the C iv i l War came he took the chance and s igned up fo r the a rmy. Then go t qu ick ly p romoted to b r igad ie r genera l . A f te r the C iv i l War he became our 18 t h p res iden t (1869-1877) who suppor ted the Rad ica l Repub l i cans . He d ied on Ju ly 23 ,1865 .

John C. PembertonHe was bo rn in the Un ion in

Ph i lade lph ia in the Augus t o f 1814 . In 1862 he was p romoted to L ieu tenan t Genera l . In the year 1861 when the C iv i l War was s ta r t ing he re t i red f rom the Un ion and jo ined the Con federa te cause .

LEADERS OF THE WAR

There were way more Un ion t roops then Con federa te ones because the the re were more Un ion s ta tes and more vo lun tee rs . More Con federa tes d idn ’ t wan t to be in the war so the Un ion had many more t roops and were ab le to bea t the Con federacy.

Through out the batt le the Union engaged about 75,000 troops whi le the Confederates only engaged about 34,000.

OUTNUMBERED

I n the f i r s t a t tack Gran t t r ied to s to rm the town bu t ended up hav ing 157 k i l l ed and 777 wounded compared to on ly 8 k i l l ed and 62 wounded on the Con federa te s ide . The nex t morn ing a t 10 A .M. the Un ion a t tacked w i th fo rces th ree mi les w ide bu t in the a t tack abou t 3 ,000 Un ion so ld ie rs were k i l l ed compared to on ly abou t 500 Con federa tes tha t were k i l l ed in the a t tack . A t the end o f a l l t he a t tacks the Un ion had abou t 4 ,800 casua l t ies wh i le the Con federa tes on ly had abou t 3 ,300 bu t a lso had abou t 30 ,000 cap tu red .

THE CASUALTIES BEGIN

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Confed-eratesUnion

THE END OF THE BATTLE.

It actually wasn’t all of the attacks that made the Confederates surrender it was starvation because the Union cut off the river so they couldn’t get food to soldiers of the Confederate but only to the Union. And because of the war they couldn’t farm as well because they already stole from all the farms and stores but it still wasn’t enough food to keep the soldiers well fed. Before they’re surrender the Confederates went to eating mules, rats, and even boiled shoe leather. The surrender at Vicksburg on July 4, 1863 gave the Union total control of the Mississippi River.

WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO BE A CIVILIAN

Since many of the civilians in Vicksburg survived the 1862 bombardment from the Union many of the civilians had experience with survival when the Union attacked. So less then 20 civilians were documented as dead. Dora Richards Miller a civilian that lived at Vicksburg during the time of the siege wrote in her diary ”About three o’ clock the rush began…humanity in the last throes of endurance.” When the Union first started to attack it was a rush to build caves for the civilians because they knew that they were safer in the caves then they were in their house.

THE MEANINGS

• “Siege” is the name for a specific set of military circumstances, but the term is often wrongly used.• An unconditional surrender is one in which the victors make no promise to their vanquished foes regarding their future

treatment.• Civil War gunboats went through shallow waters, such as rivers and coastlines. Ideally, they mounted the arms and armor

necessary to contend with other gunboats as well as land-based fortifications.• A redan is a V-shaped protrusion in a fortified line, with the tip of the V facing the enemy.• The Union ring around Vicksburg was drawn tight through the construction of “approaches” and “parallels” — a system of

entrenchments that allowed Union soldiers to close in on the fortress with minimal risk. • “Combined arms” is the military concept of harmonizing disparate weapons and equipment to multiply their effect on the

battlefield.

1. Abraham L inco ln and Je f fe rson Dav is bo th saw Vicksburg as an impor tan t pa r t t o the Con federacy.

2. U lysses S . Gran t cap tu red Vicksburg by go ing away f rom i t .

3. Sou the rn leaders were d iv ided on s t ra tegy a t V icksburg .

4. The ba t t le fo r Vicksburg was fough t a t Champ ion H i l l , M iss iss ipp i .

5. Un ion nava l opera t ions were essen t ia l t o the success o f Gran t ’s a rmy.

6. V icksburg had i t s own Cra te r more than a year be fo re S t . Pe te rsburg .

7. Gran t o rde red an uncond i t iona l su r render a t V icksburg—and was rebu f fed .

8. The cap tu re o f V icksburg sp l i t t he Con federacy and was a ma jo r tu rn ing po in t o f the C iv i l War.

9. The C iv i l War Trus t i s engaged in an ongo ing e f fo r t t o p reserve ba t t le f ie ld land a t V icksburg .

10. Gran t removed h is sen io r co rps commander, John McCle rnand , du r ing the s iege a f te r McCle rnand re leased a se l f -congra tu la to ry o rde r ex to l l i ng the v i r tues o f h is t roops and ma l ign ing the e f fo r t s o f Sherman and McPherson a t the May 22 a t tacks .

11. Co l . Ben jamin H. Gr ie rson lead 1 ,700 Federa l ho rsemen th rough Tennessee , Miss iss ipp i , and Lou is iana , c rea t ing con fus ion in the Con federa te hea r t land , and moved Pember ton 's a t ten t ion f rom Gran t ' s mass ing fo rces in Lou is iana .

12. Inaccura te a r t i l l e ry f i re rap id ly s t ruck bu i ld ings in the C i t y o f V icksburg , p rompt ing c iv i l i ans to l i ve in a se r ies o f sub te r ranean caves fo r p ro tec t ion .

13. Dur ing the Vicksburg campa ign , the U.S .S . C inc inna t t i , wh ich had been sunk on May 10 , 1862 and subsequen t ly ra ised , ea rned the d is t inc t ion o f be ing one o f the few navy vesse ls eve r to be sunk tw ice .

INTERESTING FACTS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

www.historynet.com/battle-of-vicksburg

www.exploresouthernhistory.com/vicksburg1.html

www.civilwar.org/battlefields/vicksburg/maps/vicksburgmap.html

www.slideshare.net/Bubblehead12/the-battle-of-vicksburghttp://mississippiconfederates.wordpress.com/2013/03/0 3/civilians-during-the-siege-of-vicksburg/

http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_vicksburg.html