How did the Battle of Vicksburg affect the south?

Answer 1

It liberated the Mississippi and ended the war in the West, releasing Grant's army for service in Eastern Tennessee, and earning Grant enough credibility to qualify him as General-in-Chief in due course.

Answer 2

The batlle of Vicksburg was a huge victory for the North because it was a strong Confederate base, and it essentially gave the North control of the Mississippi river. The battle also influenced Abraham Lincoln into promoting Ulysses S. Grant to the leader of the Union army.

Answer 3

It liberated the Mississippi, cutting off all the troops west of the river, and greatly hampering Confederate supply.

It freed the Union troops to move East and concentrate on two battle-zones - Richmond and Chattanooga/Atlanta.

Answer 4

Capturing Vicksburg allowed the Union to use the whole Mississippi Valley as a staging area for future campaigns and opened up communications all the way from St. Louis to New Orleans, which was captured from the Gulf side. This freed Grant to attack Chattanooga without having to worry about being counterattacked from the rear. This, in turn, led to Sherman's successful invasion of Georgia the following year. It also convinced Lincoln that Grant was the officer to take overall command of all Union forces.

Additionally, Vicksburg had been a location from where food and other war supplies from Confederate states west of Vicksburg, could be shipped there and then by railroad send these supplies to other parts of the South.

It was not a reason for US President Lincoln to appoint General US Grant to lead all Union armies. Vicksburg fell in 1863. US Grant became the top military leader of the North in 1864.

A more detailed view of the Vicksburg situation reveals that supples did not flow west to east but the reverse. The Confederates had already discounted the loss of Vicksburg , and its strategic value has been overstated.

Answer 5

The fall of the Confederate city fortress of Vicksburg has been totally distorted in the many history books about the war, and even by both sides when the war was in progress. Most importantly was the fall of Vicksburg from the view of the Confederate high command. They indeed were aware of the Propaganda value of Vicksburg, but were not impressed with the military or logistical importance of it. The fall of Vicksburg in 1863 was the result of the concerted efforts of the Union army. Vicksburg had survived assaults on it since almost the beginning of the war. And, based on its location, only a siege led to a Union victory.

General E. Lee valued the city because it restricted Union shipping on the Mississippi. Lee's subordinate, General Longstreet believed that the Confederacy was already cut off, meaning west from east long before Vicksburg. And as for commerce, Union cargo ships were victims of the Rebels holding the banks of the river, using torpedoes and cannon fire to harass cargo shipping. Union gunboats were safe, or safer, of course.

Confederate General Joseph Johnston valued Middle Tennessee much more than Vicksburg. And as early as the Spring of 1862, the Confederates foresaw the ultimate demise of the city.

One myth can be exploded here. The South was not dependent for supplies flowing west to east with Vicksburg as the point of linkage. If there was any dependency it was the West needing it from the east. And the West had a vast territory in Texas alone. The west had enough supplies on its own, plus it had its border with Mexico to take in supplies.

As far the Southern generals were concerned, the efforts to take Vicksburg and later to hold on to it were a cost to the Union that that appealed to the Confederate high command.

The true loss regarding the Mississippi River, had already been accomplished when New Orleans was lost. As far as commerce on the river was concerned, Union shipping tonnage after Vicksburg never even reached one year's worth of the commerce in the single year of 1860.

And, in May of the following year, 1864, the general in charge of intercepting trade between the two halves of the Confederacy, General Brayman complained to Washington DC to no avail that enemy traffic across, over and around the river was impossible to stop.

Answer 6

The battle and siege of Vicksburg was an important propaganda victory for the Union. Modern historians now view the loss of Vicksburg by the South as not one of the crucial factors that decided the outcome of the war.

Answer 7

The fall of the city-fortress did not liberate Mississippi at all. In its entirety, the Union's attempt to capture Vicksburg was the longest "campaign" in the history of the US Civil War. The importance of Vicksburg is well an over done victorious siege by the Union. The time it took to capture Vicksburg, gave its capture more importance then is commonly believed. As for ending the war in the Western Theater, Union General Sherman's Meridian campaign was in fact an 1864 campaign. And, Union General Bedford Forrest won the Battle of Tupelo, Mississippi in mid-July of 1864, twelve months after the surrender of Vicksburg.

Answer 8

It changed many lives because of the lives that were lost.

Answer 9

The Fall of Vicksburg was the strategic/logistical turning point of the war.

Answer 10

Grant's victory at Vicksburg signaled beginning of the end for the south.