"Vicksburg..."

The Gibraltar of the Confederacy

For additional thoughts on today please visit Max at Thoughts from a Mystic Satyr and Ryan at "... A Regular Guy Gone Bad." Max and Ryan will discussing The Battle at Gettysburg, which ended July 3,1863.

Two of the most important dates of the American Civil War would arguably be July 3 and July 4, 1863, the dates of two decisive victories for the Union Army against Confederate forces.  Confederate General, Robert E. Lee withdrew his forces from the Gettysburg area on July 3... and Confederate General, John Pemberton surrendered Vicksburg to Union General, U.S. Grant the very next day, July 4.

Honestly, the outcomes of both battles were probably decided weeks in advance by a series of events that made the possibility of victory for Confederate forces very unlikely.

General 'Stonewall' Jackson
"Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees."

Jackson's last words

From April 30 - MAY 6, 1863, The Army of North Virginia took on the Union Army of the Potomac around Chancellorsville. On May 2, 'Stonewall' Jackson was shot and mortally wounded by a Confederate picket, and died eight days later from complications.  Robert E. Lee would later compare the loss of Jackson as to 'having lost his right arm.'  Needless to say, Jackson's leadership and military prowess were sorely missed a month later at Gettysburg.

An equally important misstep was that committed by General Jeb Stuart, Confederate cavalry man.  His daring military usage of horseback troops gave Lee 'sets of eyes' to what was going on around his forces that other military leaders didn't have.  Either through ill-defined orders on the part of Lee, or through decisions made by Stuart, the Confederate cavalry was separated by time and distance from Lee's main body of troops, and unable to provide intelligence to Lee.  There were other issues that transpired that would work against Lee, but I would argue that these were the two most significant.

StoneWall Jackson's tactical excellence and Stuart's reconnaissance were sorely missed at Gettysburg.

On to Vicksburg...

U.S. Grant  and   John C. Pemberton

General Joseph E. Johnston

General Joseph E. Johnston was equally involved in tactical moves that were made... or more importantly, not made over that time.  To this day, there is still argument as to what all transpired between Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, and Generals Johnston and Pemberton.

The city and fortress of Vicksburg were protected by General John C. Pemberton and his Confederate forces.  If you have never been here, the city is situated high on the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River. There were several fortifications devised that made the running of the river by Union vessels all but impossible.

Admiral Porter's Fleet running the Vicksburg Batteries...

General U. S. Grant  and his Army of The Tennessee had marched down the Louisiana side of the river to points south of the city of Vicksburg.  His troops were then ferried across the Mississippi River by vessels of the Union fleet that had run the gauntlet at Vicksburg on April 1.

Once on the Mississippi  side of the river, Grant marched on to Jackson, MS... captured Jackson and then preceded to march on towards Vicksburg.  Johnston, who was in  charge of all Confederate forces in Mississippi, ordered Pemberton and his army of roughly 23,000 soldiers to attack the Union Army at Clinton, MS.  Pemberton felt these orders were going to be disastrous for him and his army, and he decided to attack Federal supply lines instead.

This attack failed for Pemberton, and this began a series of ill-fated battles that ended up with him retreating with his army into the defenses of Vicksburg.  One of these battles was The Battle of Champion Hill, which you can read about  HERE.  Some historians believe that this is an encounter that Confederate forces should have won... having held the high ground for part of the battle.  Some sources, however, state that Pemberton was so out-numbered by Federal forces that he had no choice but to retreat.  Other sources state that Pemberton had asked for assistance from Johnston, but he never responded.

Pemberton eventually retreated into the positions at Vicksburg and waited for Grant's Army of the Tennessee there.

Grant tried two direct assaults on Confederate positions at Vicksburg before realizing that he couldn't take it by force.  One of the attacks was on May 19, and followed by another on May 22.  The second attack involved soldiers assigned to General William T. Sherman... who advanced down Graveyard Road towards the Confederate position known as Stockade Redan.  The Union losses were heavy... and there is a marker on the battlefield site that credits the actions of this day as causing Sherman to remark that 'this is Hell'...

It is said that there were reports that the bodies of dead and wounded soldiers in some areas were so thick that one could walk 200 yards without ever touching earth.

LINK

After the failures of these two attacks, Grant decided on May 25 to lay siege to Vicksburg.  Supposedly, Johnston was very angry with Pemberton for retreating into Vicksburg and establishing a defensive position there.  Johnston supposedly was of the opinion that Grant be allowed to take the City... Pemberton take a retreat that would allow him and his forces to reunite with Johnston... and they would retake the city from Federal forces.

On July 3, 1863, Pemberton and Grant met between the lines and negotiated terms of surrender.  Grant initially wanted his usual 'unconditional surrender,' but thought better of it, as his army would have been busy trying to maintain roughly 30,000 prisoners.  Instead,  Grant issued paroles to the Confederate forces, actually thinking that they would have lost the will to fight.  Grant furthermore wanted the July 4 surrender because of national holiday implications and recognition.

The two met under an oak tree to formalize and finalize terms of surrender.

Missouri Memorial

Vicksburg NMP

One of the unique memorials at Vicksburg  is that of the state of Missouri.  Missouri provided 27 Union units, and 15 Confederate.  The memorial above is situated at the location where two Missouri units clashed against each other.

I spent a great deal of time reading Civil War blogs about the Vicksburg campaign... and there are many diverse positions on the actions of Pemberton, Johnston, and Davis... who was to blame... etc.

A very interesting side note to this story is that General Johnston became friends with General Sherman after the war... Johnston served as a pall bearer at the funeral of Sherman... came down with pneumonia due to the inclement weather conditions on the day of the funeral... and died.

For something that should have been a short post... this turned out longer than I anticipated... and it can not cover the topic  adequately.  There are so many questions... so many quirky twists and turns...

~shoes~