What tactic did grant use in Vicksburg?

Answer 1

1.) Grant was able to capture Vicksburg by sending a cavalry brigade to destroy rail lines in central Mississippi and draw attention away from the port city. When the Confederate forces were distracted, Grant was able to land infantry south of Vicksburg. Eighteen days later, Union forces defeated several rebel units and sacked Jackson, their capital. Gaining confidence, Grant and his troops rushed to Vicksburg. When two frontal assaults on the city failed, Grant set up a steady barrage of artillery for several hours every day, and was able to cut the city off from supplies. Finally, after almost 2 months of siege, food supplies ran terribly low and the Confederate commander of Vicksburg asked Grant for terms of surrender. About 30,000 southern soldiers surrendered and the north captured over 50,000 weapons and many cannon.

Source: McDougal Littell, The Americans

Answer 2

Grant made a diversion. He had men go out and sabotage and destroy railroads in the west. While Union soldiers were occupied and sidetracked Grant took his men to Vicksburg and won. Taking 30,000 confederates who surrender.

Answer 3

On On April 16, 1863, after several weeks of attempts to get by the Confederate batteries at Vicksburg, Union gunboats and troop transport boats ran the batteries at Vicksburg by hugging the near shore so closely that the confederate guns could not be pointed downward far enough to hit them and met up with Grant's men who had marched overland in Louisiana. On April 29 and April 30, 1863, Grant's army crossed the Mississippi and landed at Bruinsburg, Mississippi. An elaborate series of demonstrations and diversions fooled the Confederates and the landings occurred without opposition. Over the next 17 days, Grant maneuvered his army inland and won five battles, captured the state capital of Jackson, Mississippi, and assaulted and laid siege to Vicksburg. Grant attempted two assaults to break through the strong Confederate fieldworks: May 19 and May 22. The latter assault initially achieved some success but it was repulsed with 3,200 casualties. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston (who had been overall command of Confederate forces in the region) ordered Lt. Gen. Pemberton (the Confederate commander in Vicksburg) to evacuate the city and save his army, but Pemberton thought it impossible to withdraw safely. Johnston planned to attack Grant and relieve Pemberton but was unable to arrange it in time. On July 4, after six weeks in which the soldiers and civilians of Vicksburg had no food supplies and were bombarded constantly, Pemberton surrendered the city and his army.

Answer 4

By crossing the river downstream, while the commander of the Vicksburg garrison (Pemberton) was distracted by the Grierson Raid - a totally successful cavalry operation led by a music teacher who was frightened of horses!

The unlucky Pemberton was also at the mercy of conflicting orders by the local commander, Joe Johnston, and the Confederate president Jefferson Davis.

Answer 5

Since Vicksburg, on its high cliffs, was impossible to attack from the river, he needed to march downstream and get his troops across to the East bank. If the garrison commander, Pemberton, knew of this, he would be able to catch the Union army at its most vulnerable, during the crossing.

So Grant ordered a cavalry raid down through the whole state of Mississippi, to distract and confuse Pemberton.

For once, a military operation went entirely 'according to plan'. The raid was a stunning success, not only as a deception tactic, but as a campaign of destruction, wrecking many railroads and bridges, at almost nil casualties.

Grant was also helped by poor leadership on the other side, with Pemberton receiving conflicting orders that enabled Grant to drive him back into his lines, where he was besieged till the surrender on the Fourth of July 1863.

Answer 6

By ordering a cavalry raid down through the whole state of Mississippi, which distracted the attention of the Vicksburg garrison commander long enough for Grant to get his troops across to the East bank of the Mississippi, unnoticed.

Answer 7

After the first two attacks to take the city had failed, Grant raised a regular siege on Vicksburg, building parallels, mining, nonstop bombardments and so on.

Answer 8

Grant used an elephant to ram through their doors made of thick turkey and the elephant squished them all

Answer 9

the fort