Review: The Vicksburg Campaign, March 29—May 18,1863

The Vicksburg Campaign,

March 29-May 18, 1863

Edited by Steven E. Woodworth

and Charles D. Grear

Prologue:

During the Civil War one of the first objectives in Winfield Scott’s “Anaconda Plan” was control of the Mississippi River.  Confederate control of the Mississippi River made shipping the crops of Midwestern farmer’s to eastern markets more difficult and more expensive.  If the Federal Government could gain control of the River it would not only give farmers easier access to the markets by making shipping cheaper, but it would also sever the Confederacy in two.

Starting on the last day of February 1862, Union forces slowly made their way down the river, with the capture of Island No. 10 on April 8th and Memphis, Tennessee surrendered to Union forces on June 6, 1862. At the same time Union forces worked their way up the river from the Gulf of Mexico.  New Orleans on surrendered to Union forces April 28th. At the end of 1862  much of the Mississippi River was under the control of the Union. Only two strong holdouts remained in Confederate hands, Port Hudson, Louisiana and Vicksburg, Mississippi.

Holding the Mississippi river between Vicksburg and Port Hudson was a military necessity for the Confederate government. It was the linchpin that held the two halves of the Confederacy together.  Vicksburg, on high bluffs on the eastern bank of the river was the citadel that guarded against a Yankee invasion from the river.

Major-General Ulysses S. Grant of the Union Army of the Tennessee, after his victories of Forts Henry & Donelson, Shiloh and Corinth set his sites on breaking the Confederate stronghold, Vicksburg, Mississippi. Grant assigned his friend Major-General William T. Sherman to work finding a route of attack from the Mississippi River north of Vicksburg. In late December 1862 Sherman probed Chickasaw Bayou but failed to defeat the Confederate forces there.

During the first quarter of 1863 Grant continued to explore the option of a northern approach to Vicksburg and an alternate route on the western side of the Mississippi River to bypass the city’s  strong fortifications high up on the bluffs on the eastern side of  the river. During the same period the Yazoo Pass Expedition led by Brigadier-General Leonard F. Ross & Lieutenant Commander Watson Smith continued to probe the probed Yazoo Pass from the north but was repulsed by Confederate forces lead by Major-General William  W. Loring at Fort Pemberton.

The Williams Canal across De Soto Peninsula on the western side of the river offered a possibility for Grant to bypass the Confederate guns and pass ships around Vicksburg to approach the city from the south. In January 1863 Sherman’s men resumed digging on the trench which was previously abandoned by Admiral Farragut and General Williams the previous July. By late March work on the canal had to be abandoned after the dam at the head of the canal burst and flooded the project.

Grant concurrently ordered the Brigadier-General James B. McPherson to dig another canal from the Mississippi River to Lake Providence north of the city which would allow passage to the Red River and allow Grant’s forces to bypass the Vicksburg defenses and join with Banks at Port Hudson.

Grant had run out of options to reach Vicksburg from the North.  This is all prologue to Southern Illinois University Press’ “The Vicksburg Campaign: March 29—May 18, 1863,” edited by Steven E Woodworth and Charles D. Grear.

The Review:

“The Vicksburg Campaign,” the first of five projected volumes, starts with a brief seven page introduction before diving into second phase of a multifaceted campaign to capture the “Gibraltar of the South.”

Garry D. Joyner’s essay “Running the Gauntlet,” explores the effectiveness of using a combined army and navy force in the campaign. And detailing how Grant worked closely with acting Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter on a “Hail Mary” attempt to run ships of the “Brown Water Navy” down the Mississippi River and passed the Confederate forces watching from above on the Vicksburg Bluffs on the eastern banks of the river. Meanwhile Grant marched his troops south on the western side of the river to meet up with the ships that passed by the gauntlet of Vicksburg guns.  Joyner also chronicles Porter’s attack of the Brown Water Navy on Confederate forces at Grand Gulf and the crossing of Grant’s troops to the east bank of the river.

“Through the Heart of Rebel Country,” by Charles D. Grear, is the second essay in the book and highlights the contribution of Colonel Benjamin H. Grierson and his men’s diversionary raid through middle Mississippi form the Grand Junction to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The third essay, “In the Enemy’s Country,” penned by Jason M. Frawley, covers the battle of Port Gibson which he names “the turning point of the Vicksburg Campaign.”

J. Parker Hills’ essay “Roads to Raymond,” covers the northeastern trajectory of Grant’s Vicksburg Campaign and the Battle of Raymond.

In the fifth essay, “The First Capture and Occupation of Jackson,” by Stephen E. Woodworth highlights the Battle of Jackson & Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston’s evacuation of the city, and the destruction of the railroads in and out of the city.

John R. Lundberg follows that up with an essay entitled “I am too Late,” discussing Johnston’s lackluster performance during Grant’s campaign.

“Grant, McClernand and Vicksburg” by Michael B. Ballard covers the tempestuous relationship between Grant and Major-General John A. McClernand and the events that lead up to McClernand’s dismissal.

William B. Feis’ essay “Developed by Circumstances,” illuminates Grant’s use of Brigadier-General Grenville M. Dodge’s developing intelligence network during the Vicksburg Campaign.

The ninth essay in the book, penned by Timothy B. Smith, is “A Victory Could Hardly Have Been More Complete,” examines the Battle of Big Black River Bridge.

“The ‘Stealing Tour,’” by Steven Nathaniel Dossman, discusses the not always chivalrous interactions between the soldiers of the Army of the Tennessee and the Mississippi civilians with which they came in contact.

In the final essay of the book, “Politics, Policy and General Grant,” Paul L. Schmeltzer discusses Grant’s war strategy and tactics in comparison with those of Prussian general Carl von Clausewitz.  Clausewitz was the author of “On War,” an unfinished work edited and published by his wife in 1832. Originally published in German “On War” was largely unknown in the United States during Grant’s time, and did not become widely available until its first English translation in 1873. Though unfamiliar with Clausewitz, Schmeltzer states Grant’s approach to the problem of Vicksburg was “intuitional and largely an outgrowth of his common sense.”

I highly recommend “The Vicksburg Campaign: March 29–May 18, 1863” as book for both those unfamiliar with Grant’s campaign and those well read students of the campaign and the war itself.   Each essay is well written on its own merit and could stand alone without the others in the volume, but arranged together they present a multifaceted look at the most complicated campaigns of the Civil War.

ISBN 978-0809332694, Southern Illinois University Press, © 2013, Hardcover, 272 Pages, Photographs, Maps, Chapter End Notes & Index. $32.50.  To Purchase the book click HERE.