The Battles of Vicksburg By: Me The Battle of Vicksburg was tried to be won over many times by General Ulysses S. Grant all the way from October, 1862. One of his attempts included one on January 2, 1863 where his men marched from the Yazoo River to the Mississippi River. Grant decided he would need assistant generals, so he brought with him McClerland, McPherson, and Sherman, who also had planned to invade Vicksburg.
Originally, the plan had been to attack from Rodney, Mississippi, but a local changed his mind, so they attacked from Bruinsburg. Smaller battles were on May 17, and May 19. On May 19, Union forces were pretty bruised up, so Grant decided to try a new strategy. The final siege of Vicksburg lasted from May 22, 1863 to July 4, 1863 for the final battle. The general they would be attacking for the South was General Pemberton, who was strong and wise in his battle tactics.
Pemberton’s 20,000 men were decreased by starvation and diseases because they were weak and their towns were not fully nourished, so eventually they all ran into caves and sides of hills. This made the end of the battle incredibly easier for the Union, for they could spread out on the hill tops and pick out soldiers with their guns, or bomb them with canons. In the end, which was July 4th, the Union won by a large amount.
The casualties where rather disturbing. For the Union, there were 4,835 casualties, and for the Confederates there were 32,697 casualties. Of those Confederate casualties, 29,495 surrendered against the Union. This was one of Grant’s biggest successes. Now that he had won, Union forces now had control of the Mississippi River, and could use it for transportation. It was a gruesome and long battle, and the Battle of Vicksburg will never be forgotten.
