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Battle of Vicksburg
The Battle of Vicksburg was a battle in the American Civil War that took place on May 18 – July 4, 1863 in Mississippi.
249 Questions
What did the South want to accomplish in the Battle of Vicksburg?
The South wanted to hold onto Vicksburg to keep supplies flowing from Texas and Arkansas, to move troops where needed on the lower Mississippi, and to prevent the North from using that stretch of river for its own purposes.
Did the battle of Vicksburg cause JUly Fourth?
No, not at all, the 4th of July celebrates the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Vicksburg surrendered on July 4th, 1863.
Was the battle of Vicksburg was one of General Lee's most important victories?
General Grant, a Union General, won the battle of Vicksburg. He defeated the Confederate Army of General Pemberton. Jefferson Davis, The President of the Confederacy, tried to micromanage the battle from Richmond, Virginia, instead of letting General Joseph E. Johnson run it from on site.
What was the strategic significance of Vicksburg for the Union?
Vicksburg was a heavily fortified positon which controlled a hairpin bend in the Mississippi River. Whoever held Vicksburg controlled the lower river valley.
Which is true about the siege Vicksburg?
List the options for any question containing the word Which.
Why did Grant take such an indirect route to Vicksburg when he had been so close in March?
Union attempts to capture the fortress city of Vicksburg, Mississippi was wrought with failures. As late as early part of 1863, four unsuccessful attempts by General Grant to strike Vicksburg from the rear by moving his army on transports through the rivers and bayous to the bluffs north or south of the city were tactics that met with little success.
General Grant tried very innovative tactics to solve the problem of Vicksburg. By digging a canal across the mile wide peninsula, Grant hoped to bypass the Vicksburg artillery, move the army on transports and attack the city from the south.
Earlier attempts at capturing Vicksburg were attempted by Union Admiral David Farragut. After he had captured New Orleans, he sailed north to Vicksburg but his fleet was repulsed.
Grant then believed that a land assault might prove successful if the Confederate forces protecting the city could be drawn away by a battle elsewhere where they were needed. In early November of 1862, Grant decided to attempt this by marching an army of 31,000 troops towards Grand Junction in southern Tennessee.
There the town had a railway that Grant thought could provide him to the Mississippi to a landing point south of Vicksburg. Grant planned to link up with a sizable army under General Sherman. Despite the best intentions, Vicksburg did not fall.
A series of maneuvers by Grant and Sherman still were unable to launch an offensive attack on the well fortified city. Finally by cutting off the supply lines to Vicksburg, Grant lay siege to the city.
In summary, the assaults on Vicksburg began in 1862 and it held out until July 4th 1863. The fall of Vicksburg was an important victory for the Union. The length of time it took for the Union's river and land campaigns on a city that even Lincoln deemed to be essential, was not a good sign for the power & leadership of the Union's campaign.
What was the view of the top Confederate generals on the value of Vicksburg?
High ranking Confederate generals were clearly aware of the propaganda value for the Union on the capture of Vicksburg. So did President Jefferson Davis, however, Davis wanted to save Vicksburg. General Robert E. Lee valued the city primarily because Vicksburg prevented the Union from having uninterrupted lanes of commerce on the Mississippi River. Lee, however, did not want to weaken his own army's strength in the East. General Longstreet believed that as long as the Rebels could hold other positions on the banks of the Mississippi, Vicksburg was expendable. As for General Johnson, he valued Middle Tennessee much more than Vicksburg and Beauregard seemed to pay little attention to Vicksburg.Looking back, the levels of commerce from northern states using the Mississippi River indicated that the amount of their trade in 1860, was less after the fall of Vicksburg in 1863.
With all that said, it's clear that the propaganda value for the Union was a huge plus, but it did not change the course of the outcome of the war. Defending Rebels who surrendered at Vicksburg were paroled by Major General US Grant.
Was Vicksburg and Petersburg part of the Battle of Gettysburg?
The answer is no. The Siege of Vicksburg was an important battle for control of the Mississippi River. Vicksburg was an important port a few miles inland, but By capturing the port, The Union could strike a devastating blow to Confederate international commerce and "blockade runners", as well as seriously interrupt any means of resupplying Confederate armies by river,
Petersburg was an important rail junction which was vital to moving rations and ammunition to the beleaguered Confederate army now fighting General U.S. Grant. After Petersburg fell, Richmond became indefensible, and the Confederate capital quickly fell to Union forces.
While both of these places were important, they had nothing to do with the Battle of Gettysburg.
During the civil war did controlling vicksburg Mississippi mean to control the Mississippi river?
Yes, it did.
Why should the Battle of Vicksburg be remembered?
Vicksburg was the true strategic and logistical turning point of the war.
What are some of the controversies surrounding the US Civil War siege on Vicksburg?
Apparently there have been many controversies regarding the significance of Vicksburg. It's clear from looking at many answers on the significance of this city, that more research needs to be done. On the surface, it seems that within the Confederate High Command, there were different points of view on Vicksburg. And from the Union standpoint, there is a mixture and concern about the real gains made by its capture.As the US Civil War unfolded, there seemed to be a surprising response from key generals in the Confederacy regarding the importance of Vicksburg. It was not a unanimous one however.
Senior Southern generals were well aware of the propaganda value of Vicksburg to the Union when it was finally taken down after numerous assaults and finally a siege. This process took the Union several separate campaigns and much effort was invested in its capture.
Southern generals, however, were not overly impressed with its military or logistical significance.
This was especially true with the high command of the Army of Northern Virginia.
Now, Robert E. Lee valued the fortress city primarily because it impeded Union commerce and military operations on the Mississippi. Under Lee was General Longstreet who believed the South would lose little if it was captured.
He is quoted as saying " We would be no worse cut off from the West than we are now." He clearly was correct regarding the commerce value to the North, regarding the mighty Mississippi, he reasoned that their commerce would be impeded because the long miles of river banks could still offer problems for Union shipping on the river.
Now General Joseph E. Johnston, after his transfer to the West, regarded Middle Tennessee as strategically more important. PT Beauregard had apparently written off its capture as early as June of 1862, a year before Vicksburg's demise. Based on his retreat from Corinth, he wrote off the city, and had no urgent grief about it.
Well, as can be seen to this point, Vicksburg's loss was seen as secondary, compared to other areas in the West, and there was not much in reverse thinking from other quarters in the South. (This many historians despite ) What cannot be disputed was the attitude of key Southern generals.
As we know, this view of Vicksburg was 180 degrees to the opposite of the views held by generals Halleck, Grant and Sherman. Add US President Lincoln to that list.
Pausing here, it's important to note that"attitude" had allot to do with the ultimate capture of Vicksburg. What one side strongly desires, as opposed with what the other side thinks, is rather important to the final results. Now there is another factor to consider. While Halleck and Lincoln had great faith in Grant and Sherman, on the Confederate side, Jefferson Davis still exercised final strategies and general assignments. Jeff Davis could have easily, early on, replaced Vicksburg's commander, General John Clifford Pemberton, with any number of his generals who had more combat savvy. As an aside, Pemberton of Pennsylvania, was one of the few Northern natives that was appointed to a significant rank in the Confederate Army. These types of "turncoats" were especially irritating to other West Point graduates. On the flip side, Pemberton's Philadelphia birthplace was not deemed to be the same as being born in Charleston, South Carolina, from a Southern point of view.
The several Union campaigns that had been directed towards Vicksburg, beginning early on by Admiral Farragut, is an indicator of the Union's flip side attitude towards Vicksburg in comparison to the Southern view. The details of Grant's intensity concerning Vicksburg have been detailed in several places in the US Civil War sub-category. With that said, the following facts are of interest to true US Civil War buffs and historians.
In the view of many totally unbiased historians, the occupation of Vicksburg was a "white elephant". The loss of transit did not hurt the supply situation between the two parts of the Confederacy located on each side of the Mississippi. Logistically, the South had long been already separated. Additionally, contrary to commonly made assumptions, the Confederacy's main logistical need was in moving supplies from East to West.
And yes, in the very early stages of the war, the Richmond bureau of supply affairs was eager to receive wool, leather and beef on the hoof from the West. Limited success was achieved. However, as early as 1861, the Confederate Quartermaster, had informed Texas and other "western locations" that they had to fend for themselves on their own resources or with trade with Mexico.
The Union's control of Vicksburg in one sense, handicapped Union operations because the instructions were to rely now on the Mississippi to supply their armies, and as the South already knew, the Mississippi and its intermittently navigable tributaries were troublesome.
The main loss of the South was New Orleans, well before Vicksburg, and the South had already had been compensating for that problem.
The seemingly frantic efforts of Davis, Secretary of War Rudolph and Johnston was the mistaken belief that Arkansas's forces should be combined with those in Mississippi, because the former had valuable troops, which it did not have.
The bottomline here was that the loss of the Mississippi was one of prestige rather than one of substance. And in 1863, the South's bid for independence relied on the latter. To cynics both North and South, the Union had acquired an albatross that required troops to defend.
There are far more details and opinions on the "Vicksburg Situation". What has been attempted here was to see how the situation appeared to key Southern leaders.
Grant's capture of Vicksburg did that.
How many Black Soldiers died at the Battle of Vicksburg and the Battle of Gettysburg?
At the Battle of Vicksburg, approximately 180 Black soldiers from the United States Colored Troops (USCT) died during the campaign. In contrast, at the Battle of Gettysburg, around 40 Black soldiers are recorded as having died, primarily due to their involvement in the fighting and subsequent skirmishes. These figures highlight the contributions and sacrifices of Black soldiers during the Civil War.
In what city was the Battle of Vicksburg fought?
The Siege of Vicksburg was fought in the vicinity of Vicksburg, MS.
What was the reaction to the battle of Vicksburg?
Most contemporary Americans ignored the fall of Vicksburg because it was overshadowed by the Battle of Gettysburg.
Why didn't Grant attack from west or north in the siege of Vicksburg?
He tried to, but Vicksburg was impossible to attack from across the river, being well-defended by artillery on high cliffs.
Remember, Grant didn't want to go West of the river at all, but was forced into it by the strange tactics of John McClernand and his private army, which had been secretly approved by Lincoln.
Grant did his best, even trying to divert the Mississippi at one point, and also getting bogged-down in the bayous.
In the end, he took the bold decision to march downstream and cross to the East again. To distract the commander of the Vicksburg garrison (Pemberton), he ordered Colonel Benjamin Grierson to lead a cavalry raid right down through the state of Mississippi, causing massive damage at almost nil casualties to the Union.
It was the first spectacular success of Northern cavalry in the war, and it enabled Grant to cross the river, head North-East and drive the Confederates back into their lines at Vicksburg, where they eventually surrendered.
Where is the Vicksburg Transportation Museum in Vicksburg Mississippi located?
The address of the Vicksburg Transportation Museum is: 129 Hoxie Rd, Vicksburg, MS 39180-6340
What were the strengths of the Battle of Vicksburg?
Assuming you are referring to the strengths of each side in the campaign, Grant had superior intelligence, superior numbers, freedom of movement, superior supplies, and superior communications. Pemberton had superior position and his troops had the home field advantage.
