Give me APUSH or give me death!
Claire Huddleston
VICKSBURG
Warren County, Mississippi, May 18 - July 4, 1863
The battle of Vicksburg was a siege of the Confederate army by Major General Ulysses S. Grant and his Union armies. The Confederate commanding general was Lieutenant General John Pemberton, when his army was surrounded in Warren County, Mississippi.
Vicksburg was a bold campaign for Grant to undertake. He landed secretly below Vicksburg and surprise attacked Pemberton's army at Champion Hill and Big Black Bridge. To avoid a large loss of soldiers, he decided to siege the Confedearates, which lasted for 47 days and ended in Pemberton's surrender, who was simply trying to hold down Vicksburg.
The prolonged siege led to the surrender of the Confederate arm on the fourth of July, one of the smartest military campaigns of the Civil War. The Confederate army was split in half when it lost Pemberton's army and an important stronghold of the South in this battle (Vicksburg).
The surrender of Vicksburg by the Confederates was a major turning point during the Civil War. The Mississippi River, a major source of power, was now strongly held by the Union (Brinkley, The Unfinished Nation).
Grant's military skills as General were reestablished, and the Union gained a significant advantage over the Confederates.
The town of Vicksburg would not celebrate the fourth of July again for another eighty-one years (Vicksburg Campaign).
Bibliography
Brinkley, Alan. The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People. Sixth ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2010. Print.
"Vicksburg Campaign." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2015. <http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/vicksburg-campaign>.
"Vicksburg." Civil War Trust. Civil War Trust, n.d. Web. 11 Jan. 2015. <http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/vicksburg.html?tab=facts>.
images:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Vicksburg
