On June 30, Lee and Meade ordered their forces to converge on Gettysburg. The Union and Confederate armies each were operating in ignorance of the other’s locations until their cavalry forces had an encounter. Lincoln, frustrated by Hooker’s defeat and inaction, removed him from command and named George Meade commander of the Army of the Potomac. President Lincoln had a series of disputes with his commanders such as George McClellan, who was notoriously delayed attacking the enemy because he had overestimated its strength. This time, Lee ignored the town, heading directly north from the Shenandoah Valley into the Cumberland Valley west of South Mountain. During his 1862 invasion of Maryland, Lee’s operational plan had been disrupted by unexpected resistance on the part of the Union garrison at Harpers Ferry. On June 13, Union general Joseph Hooker began to move north in an attempt to keep his army between Lee and Washington, DC. On June 3, 1863, Lee slipped out of his base at Fredericksburg and headed west into the Valley of Virginia. Some wanted to relieve Vicksburg, but Lee effectively argued that the best use of limited Confederate resources was to invade Pennsylvania. (credit (b): Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division.)Īfter Lee’s victory at Chancellorsville in May, Confederates leaders had debated their strategic options. (b) The 1863 map shows how the Union forces under Generals Sherman, McPherson, McClernand, and Carr surrounded the Confederate forces during the siege. (a) The photograph depicts some of the heavy artillery pieces used by the Union. The Union siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi, was successful in part because of Grant’s consistent bombardment of the city. The fall of Vicksburg and the capture of most of the garrison can only be a matter of time.” Under steady fire, the city surrendered on July 4. On May 24, Grant advised General-in-chief Halleck that the enemy “was in our grasp. The Confederate defenders repulsed several direct assaults against Vicksburg’s lines, so Grant settled in for a siege, the outcome of which was not in doubt. With his right flank now anchored on the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers north of the city, he effectively reestablished his lines of communication and supply. Linking up with the transports, Grant crossed the river south of Vicksburg and then executed a lightning campaign with a great deal of mobility that sealed the fate of the Confederate stronghold.ĭuring the 17 days after he crossed to the east bank of the river, Grant fought and won five major engagements, inflicting twice as many casualties on the enemy as his troops suffered and pinning the Rebel army inside the defenses of Vicksburg. Grant marched his army down the west bank of the Mississippi while Navy gunboats and transports ran the gauntlet of Confederate guns positioned above De Soto Point. Sherman and President Lincoln questioned because it entailed abandoning his supply and communication lines along the Mississippi. This depiction from about 1888 shows Union forces besieging Vicksburg in 1863.Īfter several failed efforts, Grant adopted a bold but risky plan, one that both his trusted subordinate William T. The Confederates held strong defensive positions on the higher, drier ground to the east and northeast of the city. To the north lay the Mississippi Delta, a swampy area between the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers. His problem was how to attack the city, which sits on a high bluff above De Soto Point, a sharp bend in the Mississippi the city’s guns commanded the river below. Grant launched a brilliant campaign against Vicksburg. Meanwhile, in south central Tennessee, another Union army under William Rosecrans was in position to threaten Chattanooga, which, if captured by Union forces, would open the way to Atlanta, Georgia, a major Confederate stronghold. Grant had besieged the important city of Vicksburg on the Mississippi River. Lee had inflicted a major defeat on a Union army at Chancellorsville, but a Union army under Ulysses S. The spring of 1863 was a time of mixed fortunes for the Confederacy. Use this Narrative during the Civil War unit to give students a comprehensive summary of the battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg.
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