Battle for Vicksburg
Siege of Vicksburg - Major General Logan's Division
| date | May 19–4. July 1863 |
|---|---|
| place | Warren County , Mississippi , USA |
| output | Union victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
|
96,868
|
about 30,000
|
| losses | |
|
9,284 killed
: 753 wounded: 3,752 missing / captured: 4,779 |
3,202 killed
: 875 wounded: 2,169 missing / captured: 158 |
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The Battle of Vicksburg , also known as the Siege of Vicksburg , took place around the small town of Vicksburg , Mississippi , from May 19 to July 4, 1863 . It was the last battle of the Second Vicksburg Campaign and is considered a decisive battle of the American Civil War .
The battle began with two unsuccessful attacks by the Union Tennessee Army on Confederate positions off Vicksburg. Major General Ulysses S. Grant then began the siege of the city, which after six weeks and one day on Independence Day led to the surrender of the Confederate Mississippi Army defending the city . With the fall of Vicksburg, the Confederation lost its penultimate base on the Mississippi. With the subsequent surrender of Port Hudson, Louisiana , the entire Mississippi Valley was under Union control. The confederation was split in two.
prehistory
Before the war began, the Mississippi was the economic lifeline for the states of the Midwest. With the beginning of the war this connection was broken. President Lincoln had already called for the capture of Vicksburg in 1862 as a prerequisite for victory. Major General Grant had tried unsuccessfully in the first Vicksburg campaign with the Tennessee Army to take Vicksburg from the north and west. In the second Vicksburg campaign, the Tennessee Army crossed the Mississippi about 40 miles south of the city, attacked first northeast towards Jackson , Mississippi, and then turned west. Grant defeated the Mississippi Confederate Army under Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton decisively in the Battle of Champion Hill and had crossed the Big Black on May 17th.
Vicksburg, in conjunction with the other fortifications along the Mississippi, closed the river to Union use. After only Port Hudson and Vicksburg remained as bases on the Mississippi, the city was named the hinge of the federation by President Davis. Davis commissioned Lieutenant General Pemberton and his Mississippi Army to defend the states of Mississippi and Louisiana east of the Mississippi. Pemberton managed to repel the Tennessee Army during the first Vicksburg campaign. After the Mississippi invasion, Pemberton failed to pool his forces and beat Grant after landing. After the Battle of Champion Hill, the Mississippi Army units evaded the Big Black, demoralized but mostly orderly. After the defeat at the bridge over the Big Black , the Confederate soldiers fled to the fortifications of Vicksburg on May 17th.
terrain
Vicksburg is located on the east bank of the Mississippi on a ridge up to 60 m above the river. The ridge stretches from Haynes Bluff, twelve miles northeast on the Yazoo , to the confluence of the Big Black with the Mississippi, thirty miles south; it descends on the land side to Big Black and offered elevated positions well suited for defense. The key area for the defense of Vicksburg was northeast of the city on the Yazoo at Haynes Bluff.
aims
The Northern government intended to gain control of the lower Mississippi in order to use the river for economic purposes. At the same time, taking Vicksburg would split the Confederation in half and realize part of the Anaconda Plan . With Vicksburg and Port Hudson, Louisiana, the southern states only had two fortified bases on the Mississippi, through which a secure connection with the areas west of the river could be maintained. The loss of this connection would particularly affect the movement of goods considerably. For the confederation it was also about its reputation in the world and in the population, keeping Vicksburg became an object of prestige.
Starting position
Major General Grant began the siege with the three corps that had carried out the second Vicksburg campaign so far. After Haynes Bluff was captured without a fight, he immediately deployed units to repel an attack from the east. In the further course of the siege, Grant strengthened himself to more than 70,000 men through large units from his own defense area and from the defense areas Missouri and Ohio. Grant used more than half of these troops to repel an attack by Joseph E. Johnston from the east. Lieutenant General Pemberton was able to build up the defense of the city in addition to the divisions that had fled at Big Black with the Stevensons and Forneys divisions stationed in Vicksburg. On May 26, he had 17,356 serviceable soldiers available to defend the city in expanded positions.
battle
On the night of May 18, the first Tennessee Army units reached the city's outer fortifications. Taking advantage of the success of the previous days, Grant wanted to attack the demoralized Confederates in one last effort and take Vicksburg before Johnston could become a threat to the Tennessee Army behind him.
Attack on May 19th
The XV. Shermans Corps reached Haynes Bluff , which had been bitterly fought over at the turn of the year, without a fight on the night of 17-18 May. This corps was followed by the XVII. McPhersons, which unfolded to Sherman's left, and then the XIII. John McClernands who served on the left wing of the Army. Major General Grant ordered the attack on all corps on May 19 at 2:00 p.m. The attack began after five hours of artillery preparation with a division of the XV. Corps.
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The Confederates defended the XV. Corps opposite from positions with the main focus in the 'Stockade Redan', a fortress in the north of the defense line. The front regiment of the XV. Corps managed to advance up to the enemy slope of the 'Stockade Redan', but remained there in Confederate fire. It was only in the cover of darkness that the surviving Union soldiers were able to move to their own lines.
The other two corps of the Tennessee Army initially did not take part in the attack because they had not yet reached their storm starting positions. Only during the attack of the XV. Corps they could take their starting positions. This only resulted in skirmishes with the Confederate defenders. The Tennessee Army's casualties were 157 dead, 767 wounded and 8 missing; a total of 942 soldiers. Confederate losses are not detailed; Pemberton described them as minor and, in his report that the attack had been successfully defended against, demanded the supply of primers and rapid relief.
Attack on May 22nd
Despite this failure, Grant insisted on another attack. To this end, he agreed on May 21 to cooperate with the Mississippi flotilla, which was supposed to bombard the Confederate fortifications up to half an hour after the start of the attack. Grant then personally ordered the commanding generals to attack at 10:00 a.m. the next day. To do this, he had a time comparison carried out so that it was ensured that all corps would start at the same time.
All night long, the flotilla's mortars fired into Confederate positions and the city. All available artillery opened fire early in the morning, along with snipers. The attack by all corps began simultaneously at 10:00 a.m. Sherman had once again expressly pointed out to his division commanders that the start of the attack would not take place on a signal, but from the time ordered.
As on May 19, the storm remained on the slopes of the fortifications and lunettes . Only the XIII. Corps reported break-ins into Confederate positions. Grant, who from an observation point in the area of the XVII. Corps followed the failure of the attack, did not believe McClernand's reports. In response to repeated reports from McClernand that he needed reinforcements in order to build on his success, Grant ordered, in order to save every possible chance, almost all of the XVII's troops. Corps to provide support. At the same time he let the attacks of the XV. Repeat corps.
Pemberton fended off the attacks flexibly by shifting the focus. In his report he reports the defense against all attacks with small losses of his own and large losses of the enemy.
Grant reported to Halleck on May 22 that the losses were not excessive. They totaled 502 dead, 2,550 wounded and 147 missing soldiers. In his official report he regrets the losses that occurred especially after the first unsuccessful storm. However, he pushed it to McClernand, who, because of his false reports, would have prompted a renewed use of additional forces and a renewed attack. Overall, Grant did not judge the attack to be completely unsuccessful. Ultimately, the troops could have captured and held positions near the enemy fortifications. Considering the strength of the opposing positions, he came to the conclusion that a siege of Vicksburg was the appropriate means of conquering the city.
The siege
In the past seven months, the Mississippi Army had laid out the lunettes, forts and palisades on which the northerners' attacks on May 19 and 22 failed. The fortifications extended from the river two miles north of the city in an arc to the east and south around the city and came back to the river nine miles south of the city. They ran along a ridge.
Grant strengthened the Tennessee Army with major associations from Missouri and Kentucky. More than half of all the troops at his disposal - around 36,000 soldiers - Grant deployed under Sherman's command in the Army of Observation. Their mission was to fend off a possible attack by Johnston. To this end, major associations carried out several raids to the north and east, where they devastated the land in a kind of scorched earth so that it could no longer be used for relief operations.
execution
- Approach trenches and mines
Grant ordered the commanding generals to begin the siege on May 25th. It is desirable not to lose any more human lives. At the same time he ordered trenches to be dug so that artillery could be brought forward and mines under the Confederate positions could be detonated. He entrusted the command officers with the management of this work. Construction began on May 26th. Up to 300 soldiers were simultaneously deployed in the construction of an approach trench. The saps ran in a zigzag towards the opposing positions. They were approximately eight feet wide and eight feet deep. Artillery pieces could be brought forward in cover. Disused railway wagons, on which cotton balls were attached, served the digging soldiers as a privacy screen. The Tennessee Army dug a total of nine approach trenches.
In the section of the 3rd division of the XVII. Corps under Major General John A. Logan reached the approach trench on June 22nd, the foundation of the 3rd Louisiana Redan, the artillery had been drawn to within 50 m.
The soldiers now began to dig a tunnel under the fortification. The tunnel was about 15 meters long and ended in three tunnels, each five meters long. The tunnels were filled with 2,200 pounds of black powder. The Northerners detonated this "mine" on the afternoon of June 25th. The diameter of the crater created by the explosion was thirteen meters, the depth four meters.
A regiment of Northerners attacked immediately after the detonation through the crater. However, the Confederate defenders had recognized the work on the tunnel and built a new defensive position beyond the crater. The attack failed - Northerners' losses were more than double those of Southerners. At this point the soldiers built another tunnel, which on July 1 finally destroyed the remains of the fortification. Another attack did not take place.
- Artillery fire
The Tennessee Army constantly bombarded the city with up to 220 guns from land and again and again from the river with the gunboats of the Mississippi flotilla. Some days Grant personally ordered the timing, duration, and objectives of the fire. The guns of the Mississippi Army very rarely returned fire, but achieved success, especially against attacks from the Mississippi. So they sank the USS Cincinnati on May 27th. The civilian population could not escape the constant artillery fire. Therefore, the slopes of the city were soon covered with self-dug caves in which the civilians lived.
- Life in the positions
For the soldiers of the Tennessee Army, the siege consisted of entrenchments and rest. The greatest difficulty, even more than the enemy snipers, was the heat that the soldiers in their woolen uniforms had to endure. In contrast, the southerners had to constantly repair the fortifications damaged by the artillery fire, and therefore, and because they always had to remain deployed in the positions due to the constantly decreasing crew strength, did not come to rest. Many people, especially civilians, were close to madness because of the recurring, unforeseeable bombardment by artillery: "If this continues," wrote a Confederate officer, "a house must be built to accommodate the madmen."
- care
After taking the key area around Haynes Bluff without a fight, Grant had ordered all supplies to this location. This affected both personnel reinforcements and supplies. The Tennessee Army almost doubled in strength. Food, water, and ammunition of all calibres were in abundance with the Tennessee Army. The soldiers of the Mississippi Army and the civilian population of Vicksburg suffered from the siege of the city and the resulting cut off from all supplies. Therefore the southerners only returned the artillery fire sporadically. A brigade commander suggested removing the ammunition and all beautiful Enfield rifles ("all beautiful Enfields") from the US wounded who had not yet been recovered. A week later, Pemberton banned this equipment method because there were not enough Minié projectiles available. The soldiers' rations were reduced to a quarter of the size they had before the siege began. The consumption of mule and later also rat meat was the order of the day. Dogs and cats disappeared from the cityscape. Birds were also eaten. The soldiers' staple food was coffee, which was no longer available soon after the siege began. A mixture of sweet potatoes, blackberry leaves and sassafras was introduced as a substitute . As a flour substitute, the soldiers were given a mixture of peanuts and corn flour, which had a devastating effect on the digestive system and was therefore equated to a secret weapon of the Union. At the end of June, the Mississippi Army's sick leave was nearly half the catering strength; most common illness was scurvy .
- Replacement of McClernand
Major General McClernand was a political general and fellow party member of Lincoln. Since he was subordinate to Belmont , Missouri Grant, there have been repeated differences between the two generals, especially because McClernand repeatedly referred to himself in public as more far-sighted and better suited to lead the Tennessee Army. This face-to-face public relations was not uncommon during the Civil War - McClellan and Hooker were two examples.
Special Envoy Charles A. Dana reported War Secretary Stanton on May 24th that because of McClernand's action during the second attack on May 22nd, Grant had toyed with the idea of replacing McClernand. Grant only wanted to believe McClernand's reports if they had been confirmed by others. Dana himself found McClernand absolutely unsuitable, he even denied him any ability to lead a regiment.
McClernand issued an order on May 30, in which he gave the members of the XIII. Corps thanked for the performance shown. He sent this order to the press against the express order of the army command. On June 17, McPherson and Sherman complained to Grant about press coverage that the Tennessee Army's successes were exclusive to the XIII. Attributed to Corps and McClernand. Major General Grant relieved McClernand of command on June 18, and installed Major General OC Ord as his successor. McClernand pointed out in his reply that he had been installed by the president, but he complied with the order.
Confederate Countermeasures
- Behavior of the civilian population
Before the siege began, Lieutenant General Pemberton had ordered civilians to leave the city. Few obeyed this order to share the fate of the Mississippi Army. In addition, civilians poured into the city with the fleeing associations from Champion Hill. Despite the constant bombardment, which was mostly only interrupted by the meals of the Union artillerymen, the population stayed with the usual life. Men and women strolled the streets. A newspaper appeared daily, on wallpaper in the last days of the siege. The food rations for the civilians fell to an even lower level than that for the soldiers. One house after another was declared a hospital and flagged with yellow flags. The female population cared for the sick and wounded.
- Military action
Pemberton also managed to repel the attacks on May 19 and 22 by creating focal points by shifting and deploying reserves. With the continuation of the siege and the dwindling strength of the Mississippi Army, the formation of reserves became increasingly difficult, especially since a large number of soldiers were used to repair the fortifications. Due to a lack of ammunition, units of the Union were only fought when they were within a few meters of their own line. The field posts that were posted at night and were often only meters apart did not fight each other.
The defense of the city was essentially based on the hope of relief. It was clear to both President Davis, Pemberton, and Johnston that the city could only be saved with timely relief. This hope for relief was strengthened by the first telegrams from President Davis, who promised Pemberton that he would provide the troops necessary for the liberation of Vicksburg as soon as possible.
Johnston had already pointed out the importance of the key area of Haynes Bluff during the second Vicksburg campaign. When the loss was reported to him, he considered the city lost. All of his efforts were directed towards saving the combat strength of the Mississippi Army. Johnston wanted Pemberton to break the siege with the army. This required precise arrangements, because Johnston had to meet with the forces subordinate to him from the Mississippi Army. Pemberton did not respond to requests for a joint operation plan until mid-June.
The longer the siege lasted, the more morale fell. The soldiers received only a quarter of the rations - at the end of June almost half were on sick leave, many because of scurvy. The few butchers showed skinned rats next to mule meat.
On June 15, Johnston informed the War Department that he saw Vicksburg's dismay as hopeless. Johnston had 30,000 soldiers available in mid-June. Some of the divisions consisted of newly trained recruits and had no heavy weapons. At the end of June, the first operational division - Breckenridge - had arrived in Jackson, Mississippi. She was immediately used for armed reconnaissance against the surveillance forces under Major General Sherman. Johnston now had five divisions, with seven under Sherman's command. On July 1, Johnston ordered an attack on the positions of the Tennessee Army, which advanced to the Big Black, but was then called off because of the surrender of the Mississippi Army.
Surrender and aftermath
Lieutenant General Pemberton received a letter from "many soldiers" on June 28, demanding that the proud army surrender if he did not manage to provide them with adequate food. After a meeting with the division commanders, who confirmed to Pemberton that the soldiers were physically incapable of successfully carrying out an eruption, he sent a message to Grant on July 3, who, as at Fort Donelson, initially demanded unconditional surrender. However, Grant quickly realized that transporting the 30,000 prisoners of war to the prison camps in the north would severely limit the mobility of the Tennessee Army. In addition, the prisoners of war had to be looked after.
Therefore Grant offered to release all prisoners on parole. He expected that many of these half-starved and abandoned soldiers would not fight the north again and that they would take home the eyesore of defeat. In the face of this relatively generous offer, Pemberton's reaction was indignant because he knew Grant's reasons through a key breach in Grant's communications and had hoped to retain larger parts of the Tennessee Army and the Mississippi Flotilla after the surrender, and because he was in for a dip in the mood of the people of the Confederation feared a surrender on Independence Day.
The surrender was signed under an old oak tree, which has become a historical monument. In his memoir, Grant described the fate of this tree as follows:
"It was but a short time before the last vestige of its body, root and limb had disappeared, the fragments taken as trophies. Since then the same tree has furnished as many cords of wood, in the shape of trophies, as "The True Cross."
“It wasn't long before the last of the trunk, roots and branches were gone. The parts were carried away as souvenirs. Since then there have been as many wood splinter trophies from this tree as from the true cross of Jesus. "
A total of 2,166 officers, 27,230 NCOs and men and 115 civil servants of the Mississippi Army surrendered to the victor. Most of these men soon broke their word of honor and then fought again against the Union in Tennessee and Georgia. However, one officer and 708 soldiers insisted on being treated as prisoners of war. They would rather be locked up in the north than have to fight again.
The Vicksburg campaign did not end there, but the fortress had fallen and after the defeat of Port Hudson on July 8th, the Mississippi was firmly in the hands of federal troops. The confederation was thus split in two.
Because the city surrendered on July 4th, Independence Day was not officially celebrated until after World War II . Authorities and shops were open; the citizens used the day to commemorate the defeat, for excursions and picnics.
See also
literature
- United States. War Dept .: The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies . Govt. Print. Off., Washington 1880-1901.
- Ulysses Simpson Grant: Personal Memoirs of US Grant . New York: Charles L. Webster & Company, 1885–86, ISBN 1-58734-091-7 ( Online Edition: Published April 2000 by Bartleby.com )
- Robert Underwood Johnson: Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. Volume 3, Century Co, New York 1884-1888. [1]
- Bernd G. Längin : The American Civil War - A chronicle in pictures day by day . Weltbild Verlag, Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-86047-900-8 .
- Shelby Foote : The Civil War: A Narrative. Volume 2 ( Fredericksburg to Meridian ), New York 1986, ISBN 0-394-74621-X .
- James M. McPherson : Battle Cry of Freedom. New York 2003, ISBN 0-19-516895-X .
- James M. McPherson: Die for Freedom. Cologne 2008, ISBN 978-3-86647-267-9 .
- James M. McPherson (Editor): The Atlas of the Civil War. Philadelphia 2005, ISBN 0-7624-2356-0 .
- Edwin C. Bearss: The Campaign for Vicksburg. 3 volumes Dayton, OH 1985-86.
- Michael B. Ballard: Vicksburg: The Campaign that Opened the Mississippi . Chapel Hill, NC 2004.
- Timothy B. Smith: Champion Hill: Decisive Battle for Vicksburg. New York 2004.
- Lt. Col. Joseph B. Mitchell: Decisive Battles of the Civil War New York 1955, ISBN 0-449-30031-5 , pp. 115-124.
swell
- ^ The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume XXIV, Part III, p. 370 f: On May 31, Grant had three corps with 59,730 men. The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume XXIV, Part III, p. 452 f: On June 30, the Tennessee Army had been reinforced to 96,868 men.
- ↑ National Park Service: Union Losses (figures include losses in the May 19-22 attacks and those during the siege)
- ^ National Park Service: Confederate Losses . War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume XXIV, Part II, p. 328. In the OR, the number is given lower, but the compilation is incomplete
- ↑ James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 637.
- ↑ “See what a lot of land these fellows hold, of which Vicksburg is the key! The war can never be brought to a close until that key is in our pocket ... ”Lincoln in a speech to civilian and military leaders - quoted u. a. here: nps.gov
- ^ The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume XXIV, Part III, p. 923: Daily duty on May 26th
- ^ The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume XXIV, Part I, p. 54: The opponent is demoralized
- ↑ The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume XXIV, Part III, p. 329: Attack order for May 19
- ^ The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume XXIV, Part II, p. 159: Tennessee Army Losses
- ^ The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume XXIV, Part III, p. 899: Successful Defense
- ^ The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume XXIV, Part III, p. 333: Support from the Fleet
- ^ The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume XXIV, Part III, p. 333 f: Order for the attack
- ↑ Personal Memoirs of US Grant, Chapter XXXVI, p. 14: Time comparison
- ^ The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume XXIV, Part III, pp. 907 ff: flexible defense
- ↑ The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume XXIV, Part I, p. 275: Attack repelled
- ^ The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume XXIV, Part II, p. 167: Losses of the Union
- ^ The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume XXIV, Part I, p. 37 f: losses
- ^ The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume XXIV, Part III, p. 337: Beginning of the Siege
- ^ The War of the Rebellion, Series 1, Volume XXIV, Part I, p. 39f Order of the surveillance forces ; Part III, p. 379 Destroy everything
- ^ The War of the Rebellion, Series 1, Volume XXIV, Part III, p. 348 Beginning of the siege
- ^ Shelby Foote, The Civil War - Fredericksburg to Meridian, p. 423.
- ↑ The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume XXIV, Part II, pp. 199 ff: A detailed description of the corpspionier leader here
- ↑ The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume XXIV, Part III, p. 401: Fire Regulation XIII. corps
- ^ The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume XXIV, Part III, p. 368 or 375: Artillery Fire
- ↑ a b James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, p. 635.
- ^ Shelby Foote, The Civil War - Fredericksburg to Meridian, p. 410.
- ^ The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume XXIV, Part III, p. 915: Supply from the enemy
- ↑ The American Civil War in eyewitness accounts, p. 249 ff.
- ^ The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume XXIV, Part I, p. 87: McClernand is incompetent
- ^ The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume XXIV, Part I, pp. 159 ff: Congratulations
- ^ The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume XXIV, Part I, p. 163 f complaint
- ^ The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume XXIV, Part I, p. 103: Detachment
- ^ The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume XXIV, Part III, p. 888: The city is worthless
- ↑ James McPherson: Battle Cry of Freedom. P. 633.
- ↑ James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 636.
- ^ Shelby Foote, The Civil War - Fredericksburg to Meridian, pp. 607 f.
- ↑ Personal Memoirs of US Grant, Chapter XXXVIII, p. 16: The 'Surrender' Oak
- ^ Shelby Foote, The Civil War - Fredericksburg to Meridian, pp. 613 f.
- ^ Bryan Woolley: Where the Fourth Means Little. The Baltimore Sun, July 4, 1997, accessed March 10, 2017 (No reason to celebrate July 4).
- ^ Karen Stokes: Why Vicksburg Canceled the Fourth of July. The Abbeyville Institute, July 2, 2014, accessed March 10, 2017 (Vicksburg does not celebrate Independence Day).
