Siege of Vicksburg: Difference between revisions

{{Use American English|date=April 20182019}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 20202021}}

| date = May 1718 – July 4, 1863<br/>({{Age in years, months, weeks and days|month1=05|day1=18|year1=1863|month2=07|day2=4|year2=1863}})

| result = Decisive Union victory<ref>See: Rawley, pp. 145–169.</ref>

The '''siegeSiege of Vicksburg''' (May 18 – July 4, 1863) was the final major military action in the [[Vicksburg campaign]] of the [[American Civil War]]. In a series of maneuvers, [[Union Army|Union]] [[Major general (United States)|Major General]] [[Ulysses S. Grant]] and his [[Army of the Tennessee]] crossed the [[Mississippi River]] and drove the [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] [[Army of Mississippi#Army of Mississippi (December 1862)|Army of Mississippi]], led by [[Lieutenant General (CSA)|Lieutenant General]] [[John C. Pemberton]], into the defensive lines surrounding the fortress city of [[Vicksburg, Mississippi]], leading to the successful siege and Confederate surrender.

Vicksburg was the last major [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] stronghold on the Mississippi River; therefore, capturing it completed the second part of the Northern strategy, the [[Anaconda Plan]]. When two major assaults against the Confederate fortifications, on May 19 and 22, were repulsed with heavy casualties, Grant decided to besiege the city beginning on May 25. After holding out for more than 40 days, with their supplies nearly gone, the garrison surrendered on [[Fourth of July|July 4]]. The Vicksburg campaign's successful ending significantly degraded the Confederacy's ability to maintain its war effort. This action, combined with the surrender of the downriver [[Siege of Port Hudson|Port Hudson]] to Major General [[Nathaniel P. Banks]] on July 9, yielded command of the [[Mississippi River]] to the Union forces, which held it for the rest of the conflict.

Grant wanted to overwhelm the Confederates before they could fully organize their defenses and ordered an assault against the Stockade Redan for May 19. Troops from Sherman's corps had a difficult time approaching the position under rifle and artillery fire from the [[36th Mississippi Infantry Regiment|36th Mississippi Infantry]], Brig. Gen. [[Louis Hébert (Confederate Army officer)|Louis Hébert]]'s brigade. They had to negotiate a steep ravine protected by [[abatis]] and cross a {{convert|6|ft|m|adj=mid|-deep}}, {{convert|8|ft|m|adj=mid|-wide}} ditch before attacking the {{convert|17|ft|m|adj=mid|-high}} walls of the redan. This first attempt was easily repulsed. Grant ordered an artillery bombardment to soften the defenses and at about 2&nbsp;pm, Sherman's division under Maj. Gen. [[Francis Preston Blair, Jr.|Francis P. Blair]] tried again, but only a small number of men were able to advance even as far as the ditch below the redan. The assault collapsed in an exchange of rifle fire and hand grenades lobbing back and forth.<ref>Eicher, p. 468; Ballard, pp. 327–332.</ref>

McPherson's corps was assigned to attack the center along the Jackson Road. On their right flank, the brigade of Brig. Gen. [[Thomas E. G. Ransom]] advanced to within 100 yards of the Confederate line, but halted to avoid dangerous flanking fire from Green's Redan. On McPherson's left flank, the division of Maj. Gen. [[John A. Logan]] was assigned to assault the 3rd Louisiana Redan and the Great Redoubt. The brigade of Brig. Gen. [[John E. Smith]] made it as far as the slope of the redan, but huddled there, dodging grenades until dark, when they were recalled. Brig. Gen. [[John Dunlap Stevenson|John D. Stevenson]]'s brigade advanced in two columns against the redoubt, but their attack also failed when they found their ladders were too short to scale the fortification. Brig. Gen. [[Isaac F. Quinby]]'s division advanced a few hundred yards, but halted for hours while its generals engaged in confused discussions.<ref>Ballard, pp. 339–340; Bearss, vol. III, pp. 819–823.</ref>

Historian [[Shelby Foote]] wrote that Grant "did not regret having made the assaults; he only regretted that they had failed."<ref>Foote, p. 386.</ref> Grant reluctantly settled into a siege. On May 25, Lt. Col. [[John A. Rawlins]] issued Special Orders No. 140 for Grant: {{blockquote|Corps Commanders will immediately commence the work of reducing the enemy by regular approaches. It is desirable that no more loss of life shall be sustained in the reduction of Vicksburg, and the capture of the Garrison. Every advantage will be taken of the natural inequalities of the ground to gain positions from which to start mines, trenches, or advance batteries. ...<ref>Simon, pp. 267–268.</ref>}} Grant wrote in his memoirs, "I now determined upon a regular siege—to 'out-camp the enemy,' as it were, and to incur no more losses."<ref>Grant, ch. XXXVII, p. 1.</ref>

In an effort to cut Grant's supply line, Confederates in Louisiana under Major General [[John George Walker|John G. Walker]] attacked [[Battle of Milliken's Bend|Milliken's Bend]] up the Mississippi on June 7. This was largely defended by recently enlisted [[United States colored troops]]. Despite having inferior weaponry, they fought bravely andThey repulsed the Confederates with help from gunboats, although at heavy cost; the defenders lost 652 to the Confederate 185. The loss at Milliken's Bend left the Confederates with no hope for relief other than from the cautious Johnston.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070714134854/http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/abpp/battles/la011.htm "Milliken's Bend"], National Park Service (NPS) https://web.archive.org/web/20140814001420/http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/abpp/battles/la011.htm; Bearss, vol. III, pp. 1175–1187.</ref>

Pemberton was boxed in with plentiful munitions but little food. The poor diet was telling on the Confederate soldiers. By the end of June, half were sick or hospitalized. [[Scurvy]], [[malaria]], [[dysentery]], [[diarrhea]], and other diseases cut their ranks. At least one city resident had to stay up at night to keep starving soldiers out of his vegetable garden. The constant shelling did not bother him as much as the loss of his food. As the siege wore on, fewer and fewer horses, mules, and dogs were seen wandering about Vicksburg. Shoe leather became a last resort of sustenance for many adults.<ref>Korn, pp. 149–152; Catton, p. 205; Ballard, pp. 385–386.</ref>

One of Grant's actions during the siege was to settle a lingering rivalry. On May 30, General McClernand wrote a self-adulatory note to his troops, claiming much of the credit for the soon-to-be victory. Grant had been waiting six months for him to slip, ever since they clashed early in the campaign, around the [[Battle of Arkansas Post (1863)|Battle of Arkansas Post]]. He had received permission to relieve McClernand in January 1863 but waited for an unequivocal provocation; McClernand was relieved on June 18. Grant so carefully prepared his action that McClernand was left without recourse. McClernand's XIII Corps was turned over to Maj. Gen. [[Edward Ord]], who had recovered from an October 1862 wound sustained at [[Battle of Hatchie's Bridge|Hatchie's Bridge]]. In May 1864, McClernand would be given a command in a remote area of [[Texas]].<ref>Bearss, vol. III, pp. 875–879; Ballard, pp. 358–359; Korn, pp. 147–148.</ref>

On July 3, Pemberton sent a note to Grant regarding the possibility of negotiations for peace. Grant, as he had done at [[Battle of Fort Donelson|Fort Donelson]], first demanded [[unconditional surrender]]. He then reconsidered, not wanting to feed 30,000 Confederates in Union prison camps, and offered to [[Prisoners of war parole|parole]] all prisoners. Considering their destitute and starving state, he never expected them to fight again; he hoped they would carry home the stigma of defeat to the rest of the Confederacy. In any event, shipping that many prisoners north would have occupied his army and taken months.<ref>Smith, pp. 254–255.</ref> Pemberton officially surrendered his army on July 4.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/vicksburg.html?tab=facts |title=Vicksburg |publisher=Civil War Trust |access-date=August 21, 2016}}</ref> Most of the men who were paroled on July 6 were exchanged and received back into the Confederate Army on August 4, 1863, at [[Mobile, Alabama|Mobile Harbor, Alabama]]. They were back in [[Chattanooga, Tennessee]], by September and some fought in the [[Chattanooga campaign|Battles for Chattanooga]] in November and against Sherman's [[Atlanta Campaign|invasion of Georgia]] in May 1864. The Confederate government protested the validity of the paroles on technical grounds and the issue was referred to Grant who, in April 1864, was general in chief of the army. The dispute effectively ended all further [[prisoner exchange]]s duringfor most of the remainder of the war except for hardship cases. Exchanges wouldn't resume until January of 1865.<ref>Henderson, Lillian, ''The Roster of Confederate Soldiers of Georgia'', Longino and Porter, 1994; Bearss, vol III, pp. 1309–1311.</ref> When the captured [[26th Louisiana Infantry Regiment|26th]], [[27th Louisiana Infantry Regiment|27th]], [[29th Louisiana Infantry Regiment|29th]], and [[31st Louisiana Infantry Regiment]]s were exchanged in 1863 and 1864, many of the paroled soldiers failed to report for duty and remained at their homes. Those Louisianans who returned to active duty were never again used in combat.{{sfn|Bergeron|1989|pp=135–143}}