Vicksburg: Grant's Campaign That Broke the ConfederacyWinner of the Civil War Round Table of New York’s Fletcher Pratt Literary Award Winner of the Austin Civil War Round Table’s Daniel M. & Marilyn W. Laney Book Prize Winner of an Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award “A superb account” (The Wall Street Journal) of the longest and most decisive military campaign of the Civil War in Vicksburg, Mississippi, which opened the Mississippi River, split the Confederacy, freed tens of thousands of slaves, and made Ulysses S. Grant the most important general of the war. Vicksburg, Mississippi, was the last stronghold of the Confederacy on the Mississippi River. It prevented the Union from using the river for shipping between the Union-controlled Midwest and New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico. The Union navy tried to take Vicksburg, which sat on a high bluff overlooking the river, but couldn’t do it. It took Grant’s army and Admiral David Porter’s navy to successfully invade Mississippi and lay siege to Vicksburg, forcing the city to surrender. In this “elegant…enlightening…well-researched and well-told” (Publishers Weekly) work, Donald L. Miller tells the full story of this year-long campaign to win the city “with probing intelligence and irresistible passion” (Booklist). He brings to life all the drama, characters, and significance of Vicksburg, a historic moment that rivals any war story in history. In the course of the campaign, tens of thousands of slaves fled to the Union lines, where more than twenty thousand became soldiers, while others seized the plantations they had been forced to work on, destroying the economy of a large part of Mississippi and creating a social revolution. With Vicksburg “Miller has produced a model work that ties together military and social history” (Civil War Times). Vicksburg solidified Grant’s reputation as the Union’s most capable general. Today no general would ever be permitted to fail as often as Grant did, but ultimately he succeeded in what he himself called the most important battle of the war—the one that all but sealed the fate of the Confederacy. |
Contents
Cairo | 3 |
River Warrior | 12 |
Winter Fortress | 42 |
A Tremendous Murder Mill | 62 |
PART TWO | 95 |
The Battle for the Mississippi | 97 |
These Troublous Times | 119 |
Secessionist Citadel | 135 |
Crisis | 309 |
The Entering Wedge | 325 |
This One Object | 351 |
PART FOUR | 367 |
Pursuit | 369 |
The Hill of Death | 391 |
A Circle of Fire | 416 |
The Crisis is on Us | 443 |
Rebel Victory | 147 |
PART THREE | 173 |
Anxiety and Intrigue | 175 |
Revolution | 198 |
Grants March | 214 |
The Chickasaw Slaughter Pen | 236 |
Mud and Misery | 263 |
Things Fall Apart | 277 |
Steeles Bayou | 292 |
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Common terms and phrases
army arrived assault attack batteries battle Bayou began Bend bluffs boats Cairo called campaign camps Captain carried Charles Civil close command Confederate Davis December defenses Diary division enemy expedition Farragut February Federal fight fire fleet Foote force Fort front Grant gunboats guns Halleck hands head Henry Hill History hundred Ibid Illinois Jackson James January John Johnston July June land later Letters Lincoln looked lost Louisiana March McClernand Memphis miles military Mississippi morning move naval nearly never night officers ordered Orleans passed Pemberton Personal plantation Point Porter position Press Quoted reached rebel regiment remained reported returned river road sent Sherman Shiloh siege slaves Smith soldiers Southern supply Tennessee thousand told took town troops turned Union University USGM USGP Vicksburg West Wilson wrote Yazoo York