Vicksburg

Vicksburg is the key. . . . Let us get Vicksburg, and all that country is ours.

It was one of the bloodiest sieges of the war—a siege that drove men, women, and children to seek shelter in caves underground; where shortages of food drove people to eat mules, rats, even pets; where the fighting between armies was almost as nothing to the privations suffered by civilians who were under constant artillery bombardment—every pane of glass in Vicksburg was broken.

When Confederate troops surrendered Vicksburg on July 4, 1863–the day after the Union victory at Gettysburg–a crucial port and …

The 1863 Vicksburg campaign was to prove decisive to the outcome of the American Civil War (1861-1865). Known as the 'Gibraltar of the West', Vicksburg was the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River. In a masterly campaign Grant used riverboats and steamers to land his army south of the city. He then defeated the armies of Generals 'Joe' Johnston and John C. Pemberton. Pemberton allowed his force to become bottled up in Vicksburg and after an epic 47-day siege he was forced to surrender the remnants of his force to Grant on 4 July 1863, one day after Lee's defeat at Gettysburg.