Learn Our History Today: On May 18, 1863, during the Civil War, Union General Ulysses Grant began one of the war’s most famous and crucial campaigns, the Siege of Vicksburg. Vicksburg was the last major Confederate strongpoint along the strategically important Mississippi River and had been the target of the Union Army as far back as 1862. Throughout May 1863, Grant had been tightening the noose around the city, taking Jackson, Mississippi and winning major victories at the Battles of Champion Hill and Big Black River Bridge. These fights had reduced the Confederate army near Vicksburg under the command of General John Pemberton to a shell of its former self, with nearly three fourths of its soldiers lost. Pemberton was forced due to lack of manpower to entrench himself around the city and wait for Grant to surround and attack him. At the beginning of the siege, Grant attempted to break through the Confederate defenses, launching two major attacks on May 19 and 22. When these soldiers were horribly mangled and repulsed, Grant devised a new strategy; he would simply sit and wait it out. With only very limited supplies the rebels behind Vicksburg’s fortifications could not last long, and relief attempts were quick in coming. Confederate General Richard Taylor launched three attacks on Grant’s supply depots in Louisiana in an attempt to break the siege, all to no avail. As June turned to July, Pemberton’s Confederates had no supplies left and some troops had been reduced to eating rats to survive. With no other options left, Pemberton surrendered Vicksburg to General Grant, effectively giving the Union control of the Mississippi River.
Posted on: Sun, 18 May 2014 23:37:00 +0000
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