The siege of Vicksburg
While Johnston was being reinforced by troops from Tennessee and South Carolina, Grant collected his troops and, thanks to
Halleck in Washington, also received reinforcements. Pemberton, meanwhile, was contemplating a way out of Vicksburg. Realizing that attempting to evacuate the city would not only be futile, but also give the Federals complete control of the Mississippi, Pemberton chose to stay and try to outlast the siege. Anxious to capitalize on his string of successful operations and capture the entire force and the town, Grant launched a series of quick assaults on 19 May. Within minutes the Confederates shattered the Union wave, causing about 1,000 casualties. Three days later, a determined Grant made another attempt on the town using his entire 45.0000-man force, but it produced the same bloody result. Grant resolved not to assault the town again, and instead began the siege in earnest, using not only land forces but also his gunboats. 'The enemy are undoubtedly in our grasp,' wrote Grant on 24 May. 'The fall of Vicksburg and the capture of most of the garrison can only be a question of time.'
Elsewhere, Federals were on the move and shoring up their strongholds. On 21 May, Major-General Nathaniel Banks moved from Baton Rouge toward Port Hudson, below Vicksburg on the Mississippi Riser. His 13,000 Federals besieged the 4,500-man garrison under the command of MajorGeneral Franklin Gardner. On 14 June, Banks ordered the garrison to surrender, and when they refused he stormed the fort, but the Confederates held strong. The siege continued. Meanwhile, on 23 June, Rosecrans moved south from Murfreesboro against Bragg's Confederates at Tullahoma. By outflanking Bragg, the Federal commander had forced him to retreat across the Tennessee River by the end of the month.
As the siege progressed, Grant attempted to break through the Confederate defenses by mining under them and blowing them up. On 25 June, Federal engineers detonated 2,200lbs of powder in a tunnel that had been run under the Third Louisiana Redan. Two Union regiments stormed into the gap, but Confederates had ordered a second defensive line slightly to the rear in case the Federals broke through, and they repelled the advancing Yankees.
By late June, Grant's communications along the Mississippi, safeguarded by gunboats, were secure and the Federal command simply waited for the Confederates to capitulate out of starvation. Day after day, artillery shells poured down on the trembling town. Trapped against the river and forced to abandon the town for the immediate countryside, the residents flocked to the nearby caves in the hills. Federals and Confederates alike wondered how long the siege would continue. Hundreds of wounded Southern soldiers were forced to remain in the Vicksburg hospitals, many of which were makeshift operations and converted abandoned homes. As the shelling continued, so too did the starvation of soldiers and citizens, many forced to eat mule meat, rats, and dogs. Most serious was the lack of fresh drinking water.
Finally, after 47 days the siege came to an end. Pemberton decided he must surrender on 4 July 1863. Grant and Pemberton had served in the same division during part of the Mexican War and the two men greeted one another as old acquaintances. When Pemberton asked for terms, Grant responded that 'the useless effusion of blood you propose stopping by this course can be ended at any time you may choose, by the unconditional surrender of the city and the garrison.' As the fatigued and disheartened Southern soldiers marched out of the city, the Federals quietly lowered the Confederate flag and raised the Stars and Stripes in its place. River vessels blew their whistles and the Union bands struck up the 'Battle Cry of Freedom.' From a distance residents watched with tears in their eyes as the jubilant Yankees went wild. Grant recalled years after the war that the capture of Vicksburg 'gave new spirit to the loyal people of the North.' Embittered Vicksburg residents did not celebrate the 4th of July again until the Second World War inspired a renewed patriotic enthusiasm and devotion for the United States.
The siege cost the Federals nearly 5,000 casualties, while the Confederates suffered significantly fewer casualties resulting from combat. The cumulative effect of the capitulation, however, handed over 29,000 soldiers to the Federal army. More important was the loss of the Confederacy's final fortress itself and the heavy equipment and small arms.
The capitulation was hailed all over the North with exuberance, especially when just a few days later Port Hudson succumbed to siege and surrendered. Capturing Port Hudson, however, had cost nearly 10,000 Union soldiers, while the Confederates had lost 871 men. The Union had reclaimed the river. 'The Father of Waters again goes unvexed to the sea,' remarked Lincoln. Not only had Lincoln been given the 'Gibraltar of the West,' but also he had found in Grant a general unlike any he had in the Eastern Theater. 'He doesn't worry and bother me,' remarked Lincoln. 'He isn't shrieking for reinforcements all the time. He takes what troops we can safely give him ... and does the best he can with what he has got. And if Grant only does this thing right down there ... why, Grant is my man and I am his the rest of the war.'
The summer of 1863 was a defining period in the Civil War. The campaigns in the Western Theater went a long way in determining whether or not the Confederacy would win its independence. The Union victories in the West had shaped the contours of the conflict. Much fighting had been done, but the conflict was hardly nearing an end. Equally important to the Union overall scheme in the West, Chattanooga remained in Confederate hands. Since the opening of the conflict, possession of the strategic railroad nexus and river city had been the desire of Lincoln. Positioned in the heart of East Tennessee, Chattanooga in Union hands would open the way for Union armies in the West to penetrate further into the Southern heartland. Although the Union armies were positioned to further dominate the Western Theater, it was still too soon to tell whether or not those who had fallen in the battles in the previous two and a half years had died in vain for their cause.
The capture of Vicksburg and Port Hudson cut the Confederacy in half and opened the entire Mississippi River to Union gunboats and transports. Lincoln remarked at the time that the 'Father of Waters goes unvexed to the sea.' (Hulton Getty)
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