The Siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi

Why the South Stopped Celebrating the Fourth of July

During the War Between the States, the Union forces immediately put into effect a long-term strategy known as the "Anaconda Plan" to starve the Confederate States into submission. This plan, formulated by the famous Virginian General Winfield Scott, called for a blockade of the southern coast, the seizure of key southern ports and perhaps most importantly, the seizure of the Mississippi River to separate the eastern and western halves of the Confederacy and cripple southern commerce. In all of the Confederacy there was likely no geographical feature as dominant as the Mississippi River. The mighty river was lined with plantations, busy with riverboat traffic and in every way vital to commerce, communication and transportation.

Both sides recognized the importance of the Mississippi and of the city of Vicksburg in particular. President of the United States Abraham Lincoln declared it a more valuable prize than even New Orleans, the largest city in the south at the time. Confederate President Jefferson Davis declared Vicksburg, "the nail-head that held the South's two halves together". Supplies of every kind, from the Western states and from other countries through Mexico, passed through Vicksburg to feed, clothe, treat and arm the primary eastern armies in Tennessee and Virginia. The north was determined to control the Mississippi and the south was just as determined to stop them. However, when it came to the industrial infrastructure so essential to fighting a river war, the United States enjoyed a superiority which the Confederates could hardly hope to match.

The north struck first while Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston was still struggling to assemble his far-flung army. Union troops commanded by General Ulysses S. Grant launched a joint army and navy attack on the Confederate forts Henry and Donelson on the upper Mississippi in 1862. Capturing these two forts was a major help for the Union and they had soon driven farther south to force the surrender of Confederate troops on Island No. 10 and the evacuation of Fort Pillow. With these obstacles out of the way, Union troops occupied Memphis on June 6, 1862. At the same time, as part of their strategy to attack the Mississippi from both ends, Admiral David G. Farragut USN, led the naval attack against the city of New Orleans. Passing forts Jackson and St Philip on April 24 while under heavy bombardment, Farragut took New Orleans itself within 36 hours.

Confederate forces in the area, already off to a slow start, were hampered further by defeats at Pea Ridge, Arkansas and at Shiloh where the ranking general in the west, Albert S. Johnston of Texas, was killed in battle. On May 8 the Union forces took the Louisiana capital of Baton Rouge and Natchez only a few days later. Soon, the city of Vicksburg, situated on high bluffs at a bend in the river, was the only obstruction to Union domination of the Mississippi River. Vicksburg soon earned the nickname of the "Gibraltar of the Confederacy". Union naval forces under Farragut moved in and bombarded the city for months but Vicksburg remained defiant and the northern naval forces finally withdrew down river.

A small Union ground force landed and attempted to dig a canal across De Soto Point that would allow their naval forces to bypass the Vicksburg batteries. However, southern heat and fever wiped out the effort by July of 1862. That month, the Confederate navy managed a small but thrilling success when the ironclad vessel CSS Arkansas was completed at Yazoo City. Commanded by Lieutenant Isaac N. Brown, the Arkansas surprised Farragut's flotilla, fought its way through the Union navy and despite taking heavy damage managed to reach the safety of the Vicksburg guns. This action, a humiliation to the US Navy, proved that naval forces alone could never defeat Vicksburg. Naval forces, however, were not all the south had to worry about.

To prepare for a land attack, Confederate Major Samuel Lockett, chief engineer for Mississippi and East Louisiana, constructed an intricate network of trenches, redans, redoubts and lunettes. With a garrison of 30,000 troops and 172 pieces of artillery and favorable high ground, the city of Vicksburg was as well protected as Confederate forces could make it. In command of the forces defending the city was Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton. Born into a Quaker family in Pennsylvania, Pemberton graduated from West Point in 1837 and served as an artillery officer in the Seminole War. He married into a prominent Virginia family and fought in the Mexican War in which he was wounded twice and earned two brevet promotions. As a captain he participated in the Mormon Expedition and was offered the rank of colonel by Winfield Scott when war between the north and south seemed imminent. Pemberton refused and joined the state forces of Virginia. By January of 1862 he was a major general in command of the Department of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. By October he was promoted to lieutenant general and given command of Mississippi and East Louisiana, the crown jewel of which was the city of Vicksburg.

Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton, CSA

To oppose General Pemberton was a somewhat controversial Union officer named Ulysses S. Grant. An Ohio native, West Point graduate and veteran of the Mexican War, Grant left the army and proved to be an utter failure in the private sector. When war broke out he returned to the army but faced a great deal of criticism for his recurring problem with drunkenness. He first came to fame for capturing Fort Donelson but often clashed with General Henry Halleck, chief of operations in Washington. This bad blood, coupled with his drinking problem, surprise and near defeat at Shiloh cost him his rank and almost his career. Nonetheless, he redeemed himself somewhat by his victory at Iuka and occupation of Corinth, Mississippi as well as his reputation for coolness under fire and determination to press ahead under any circumstances. Problems did remain, but in late 1862 Grant was given command of the Union Army of the Tennessee. Enemies in high places called for his removal after he got off to a less than smashing start, but the Union military was proving to be strapped for capable commanders in the east and the west and President Lincoln supported Grant. With his new army, Grant immediately set his sights on the ultimate prize of Vicksburg.

Grant planned a fake and strike strategy to take the city. With 40,000 men he hoped to draw off Confederate forces while his subordinate, Major General William T. Sherman took the city from the river with 32,000 troops. However, his plan was thwarted when Confederate cavalry under Major General Earl Van Dorn destroyed his supply base at Holly Springs. Likewise, additional Confederate cavalry led by the legendary Brigadier General Nathan Bedford Forrest destroyed the Mobile and Ohio Railroad which was essential to Union logistics and forced Grant to abandon his plan and retreat back to Memphis. In spite of this though, Sherman and his men continued down river as Pemberton marched back toward Vicksburg to meet him after having confronted Grant.

To clear the way for General Sherman, naval Lieutenant Commander Thomas O. Selfridge led a task force consisting of the ironclads USS Cairo and USS Pittsburgh assisted by smaller wooden vessels in advance of the troop transports. Things went badly though as the USS Cairo was sunk by an electronically detonated torpedo (mine), thus making naval history as she was the first ship to be sunk by such hi-tech means. The expedition continued onward however with 7 gunboats and 59 troop transports. The Confederates were celebrating Christmas Eve when word of the impending attack came. The southern troops filed into their earthworks north of the city as Sherman landed his men and dug them in. On December 29, the Union and Confederate artillery started exchanging shots as Union officers surveyed the ground and Sherman planned for his attack.

At noon on the same day General Sherman ordered his troops to advance, though he knew losses would be heavy. Attacking across Chickasaw Bayou the Union forces were cut down by withering fire from the Confederate riflemen commanded by Brigadier General Stephen D. Lee. All along the line the Union forces took extreme casualties and were forced to retreat. Sherman considered another effort but bad weather prevented it and he was forced to withdraw back up river having lost 1,176 total casualties compared to only 187 for the Confederates. The first effort to storm the city of Vicksburg was nothing less than a horrific failure for the north.

General Grant waited out the winter months and in January of 1863 he set back to work on the canal across De Soto Point. The unpredictability of the Mississippi and the Confederate artillery again halted the operation by March. Another attempt at a different point was made, but again came to nothing. Another effort was made to attack by way of Yazoo Pass but Union forces were repeatedly driven back by Confederate troops under Major General William W. Loring in the hastily built defenses named Fort Pemberton. Admiral David Dixon Porter suggested another route using Steele's Bayou. Army and naval forces pushed forward, but when the naval flotilla left their infantry behind, the Confederates pounced. Although Sherman's men eventually arrived to save the gunboats the effort had to be given up and the Union forces retreated once again.

By that time, General Grant was coming under increasing criticism after this long list of failures while the Confederates grew more confident that Vicksburg could never be taken. Looking at his alternatives, Grant decided to plow ahead and assault Vicksburg from the south and east. The campaign first began on March 31, 1863 with a move by Union General John A. McClernand to secure a passage for the army south of Vicksburg at New Carthage. McClernand slogged south through the mud and occupied New Carthage by the following month. As he moved, Admiral Porter attempted to run the Vicksburg batteries. He hugged the Mississippi shore and so was able to slip under the field of fire of the southern batteries with the loss of only one transport ship on the night of April 16.

Grant also dispatched his cavalry to disrupt the Confederate lines of supply and communication and to keep Pemberton guessing as to his real avenue of attack. Grant also ordered Sherman to demonstrate against Vicksburg to keep Confederate attention off of his own movements, but though Sherman failed to really impress the southerners, General Pemberton and his commanders nonetheless thought that any attack would come again from the north. Confederate Brigadier General John S. Bowen, who was facing Grant alone, could see the obvious and urged Pemberton to rush all available forces south to his position, but it was to no avail. Bowen held a well fortified position though and made up his mind to resist Grant to the utmost.

Brigadier General John S. Bowen, CSA

The Union attack against Bowen and his men at Grand Gulf began on April 29 with a massive bombardment by Union gunboats including four top-of-the-line ironclads. The firing was intense but the Union flotilla was hammered by the Confederate guns and after taking considerable damage of their own was forced to retreat. In the dual the navy lost 18 men killed and 57 wounded while the Confederate gunners lost only 3 men killed and 19 wounded. Grant was therefore forced to land his men early by water and bypass Grand Gulf to move on Vicksburg directly.

Brigadier General Bowen redeployed his men to hinder Grant and his advance up the Bruinsburg Road. Bowen managed to repel the advance elements of the Union army through sheer determination.  Eventually though, Bowen and his men were overwhelmed and forced back after inflicting losses on the enemy significantly greater than their own. Grand Gulf was in Union hands and Grant was able to advance. General Pemberton, now realizing the danger, began shifting troops south but Grant in turn moved northeast to cut the line from Jackson to Vicksburg. Grant tried to mask his real intentions but Pemberton was not fooled and sent Confederate troops from Jackson to Raymond to hit Grant as he came up. This duty fell to Texas Brigadier General John Gregg who, with only 3,000 men, planned to turn the Union right flank and strike a decisive blow. Unknown to him, Gregg faced the 10,000 man corps of Union Major General James B. McPherson.

On May 12, 1863 General Gregg hit McPherson and hit him hard in what became known as the battle of Raymond. The Union lines began to falter until rallied by Major General John A. Logan. As the full weight of Union numbers was brought to bear, the Confederate attack was blunted and the northern troops counterattacked. The 3rd Tennessee and 7th Texas took the heaviest losses and Gregg was forced to retreat as General Grant occupied Raymond. The next day Grant moved on Jackson where the esteemed Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston had just arrived to take command on orders from President Jefferson Davis. Seeing that he was too late to save Jackson, Johnston ordered Gregg to fight a delaying action while Jackson was evacuated. On May 14 Union troops entered the capital city of Mississippi.

While General Sherman was left to ravage Jackson, Grant turned his attention back to Vicksburg. At the Confederate Gibraltar, General Pemberton was massing supplies in the event of a siege and moving his troops east to confront Grant along the Big Black River, though he refused to take them all. Many southerners were distrustful of the northern-born Pemberton, and as a result he was reluctant to take action without the consent of his subordinates. When they proposed moving beyond the natural defense of the river, Pemberton agreed though he himself felt it an unwise move. Calling on his men to be "vigilant, brave and active" Pemberton moved out with three of his five divisions to confront the entire Union Army of the Tennessee.

After marching east, on May 16, 1863 Union and Confederate forces met in the crucial battle of Champion Hill. Forced into battle, Pemberton deployed his men to cover the Raymond-Edwards and Middle roads. With considerable determination and luck, he may have been able to hold them, but Pemberton was unaware of another Union column advancing down the Jackson road to fall on his left flank. When informed of this, Pemberton shifted his men to Champion Hill and Union canon were soon in action to clear the Confederates off this position. Grant came at the Confederate left flank with 10,000 men and Brigadier General Stephen D. Lee moved his troops in to stop them. There was fierce fighting for about an hour and a half before Union numbers overpowered Lee and took control of Champion Hill. General Pemberton ordered a counterattack and it was the bloodied forces of the Missouri General John S. Bowen who led the way. In a gallant bayonet charge the southerners took back Champion Hill but were so few to start with and so depleted in the attack that they could not consolidate the conquest. Grant brought in new troops and ordered an all-out assault which shattered the tired and weakened Confederates and forced Pemberton to retreat back towards Vicksburg.

On May 17, the day after the battle of Champion Hill, the Confederates came trudging back into their Gibraltar on the Mississippi. The citizenry were stunned to watch their defeated defenders congest the streets in a confused mass as the officers struggled to restore order and prepare for their defense. Some blamed their northern commander, suspecting him of lacking devotion to the southern cause. Others observed that regardless of the actions of Pemberton, troops who lack faith in their commander are never at their best. Still, there was a determined enemy that had to be dealt with and the southern troops grimly manned their earthworks, placed their artillery and prepared for the assault that was sure to come. The next afternoon the Stars & Stripes appeared on the horizon as thousands of soldiers in blue marched into position and federal canon began to fire overhead. The Union army had arrived at Vicksburg.

Immediately moving into action, General Grant had decided that the XV Corps, under his friend and most fearsome subordinate, General William T. Sherman, would make the attack. On the morning of May 19th Union artillery began furiously shelling the Confederate lines in preparation for Sherman's attack. Finally, at two in the afternoon, the cannonade stopped and the Union troops filed into line northeast of Vicksburg. Their primary target was the Stockade Redan and as they advanced the Confederates met them with murderous rifle fire. As they reached the base of the southern fortifications the Union troops clawed their way into the dirt as the Confederates fired down into them. The fighting blazed as hot as the southern sun but the federal losses became too great and despite their efforts, they could not break through the Confederate earthworks and after losing 942 men, Sherman was forced to admit defeat, fall back and lick his wounds for the time being.

General Pemberton and his men had won the first round, but Grant was only just getting started and had more than enough manpower to continue. He planned an offensive on all fronts for May 22. Once again, on that morning Union artillery began pounding the Confederate lines to soften them up for the infantry. This time, the barrage was shorter and at 10am the assault came. Sherman went for the Stockade Redan again, General McPherson hit the Third Louisiana Redan and the Great Redoubt while General McClernand aimed for the Second Texas Lunette and the Railroad Redoubt. Once again, Sherman was bloodily repulsed. The troops of McPherson also suffered heavily and were repulsed without ever reaching the Louisiana lines. To the south McClernand reached the Confederate earthworks but met fearsome resistance and the Texans threw him back, inflicting severe casualties on the federals. Only at the Railroad Redoubt did McClernand make any progress, however his losses were so heavy he had nothing left with which to continue. McClernand asked Grant for support and the commanding general ordered all units to resume the attack. Once again the long blue lines swept forward and once again the boys in gray poured fire into them with horrific results, repulsing the Union attacks all alone the line yet again.

Once more, the Confederates had won the day and Grant was defeated. General Pemberton had suffered no more than 500 total casualties while he had inflicted 3,199 total losses on General Grant. All of the approaches to the lines around Vicksburg were strewn with dead Union soldiers. The wounded were also suffering in the intense summer heat. The stench of the rotting bodies became so severe that Pemberton offered Grant a cease-fire just so the dead could be cleared and buried. For two and a half hours peace reigned, but after that time both sides ran for cover as the guns began firing again. General Grant began digging in all around Vicksburg and now determined to take by siege what he had failed to take by assault.

With his superior forces, Grant was able to extend his lines farther, day by day, until the city of Vicksburg was completely cut off. As the food he had stockpiled began to dwindle, General Pemberton was forced to put his men on ¾ rations. However, the soldiers were not the only ones to suffer. As well as sharing in the lack of resources, the citizens of Vicksburg also endured hostile fire. Union artillery shelled the city itself as well as the fortifications with 220 canon around the clock, day and night. Old men, women and children endured a waking nightmare of encroaching poverty and a screaming rain of shells from the massive federal guns. Innocent civilians were killed in this showcase of modern warfare which particularly horrified southern chivalric sensibilities.

General Pemberton knew there was all but nothing he could do but struggle to hold until relieved. That hope for relief rested on the shoulders of one man; the highly respected Virginian General Joseph E. Johnston. In some ways, this was still a time for great hope in the Confederacy. Vicksburg had thrown back all efforts to conquer it and in the east General Robert E. Lee and his army were on the offensive. Yet, everyone recognized the great danger Vicksburg was in and President Davis and Secretary of War James Seddon were moving troops from east to west to save Vicksburg. Some even considered transferring General Lee to work one of his famous miracles to relieve the city. General Lee naturally opposed such a notion and reasoned that his own invasion of Pennsylvania would force Union leaders to divert troops away from Vicksburg to stop him there.

The problem with this reasoning was a common one for the Confederate high command; which was underestimating the sheer size of Union manpower reserves. In short, the United States had more than enough soldiers to maintain superior forces on multiple fronts while the Confederates had to rush men from place to place to meet unfolding dangers. The Union could keep armies to deal with Lee and Pemberton and outnumber them both. The only hope for Vicksburg was the five divisions assembling under Joe Johnston. And, there was reason to hope. At the outset, Johnston and Pemberton had enough troops between them to actually outnumber General Grant. However, action would have to be taken before additional Union reinforcements arrived. The problem with that was that General Pemberton was trapped in Vicksburg and General Johnston was not the sort of man to take a chance on a sudden attack.

General Joseph E. Johnston, CSA

Joseph E. Johnston was a genuine Confederate hero with a fine reputation even before he won the first major battle of the war at Manassas Junction. He commanded the primary Confederate army defending Richmond before he was wounded at the battle of Seven Pines and the army was given to General Lee. Johnston was a brave soldier and a gifted, perhaps even brilliant, strategist. However, he was by nature a cautious and methodical man, terrific on the defensive, but hesitant to make attacks and reluctant to risk his reputation in bold offensive actions. If a daring, immediate assault was the only way to save Vicksburg, Johnston, for all his qualities, was simply the wrong man for the job. Nor was General Pemberton, as was seen at Champion Hill, a commander who could easily throw caution to the wind and risk everything in a daring attack.

Meanwhile, as soldiers gathered and leaders chewed on the problem, life in Vicksburg was rapidly becoming horrific. The constant shelling by federal artillery had forced much of the civilian population to move underground, living miserable lives in dugout caves. Food and water were also becoming more and more scarce. Horses and mules disappeared from the city, followed by dogs and cats. Finally, local vendors were displaying rats for sale. At butcher shops, floor boards were pried up to shake loose salt and the daily news was being printed on recycled wall paper. Conditions were just as bad in the trenches where Pemberton was forced to put his men on half rations. Before long the Confederates were reduced to quarter rations and as time went on the troops ration of food would be reduced further and further. By the end of June even water was being rationed and Confederate troops were receiving only a handful of rice and peace per day to sustain themselves. Help had to come, and come fast.

Everyone from General Pemberton to the Secretary of War was pressuring Johnston to act quickly and attack Grant. However, dissatisfied with his won forces and fretful of the growing number of Union troops opposing him, Johnston refused to move, insisting that he lacked the strength to attempt a rescue operation. Desperate for some action and losing patience with Johnston, President Davis turned to the Confederate forces of the west in the Trans-Mississippi department. Lieutenant General Edmund Kirby-Smith, commander of all Confederate forces west of the Great River had plenty of problems of his own dealing with the usual dangers of Union attacks, too few troops and a larger area to defend than any other southern commander. However, he did manage to part with a division under the very effective Major General Richard Taylor. Taylor was directed to attack Union supply depots in Louisiana and despite having only one division of 4,000 Texans under Major General John G. Walker at his command, Taylor was prepared to make the effort.

Taylor was a fine commander and Walker?s Texans were as good as soldiers came. The problem was that Grant no longer relied on his supply bases in Louisiana to support his army. Even so, General Taylor sent his forces in on June 6, 1863 to attack Milliken's Bend and Young's Point. The primary action came down to Brigadier General Henry McCulloch's attack on Union troops at Milliken's Bend. Many of the northern troops were newly organized colored regiments and though the tactic of arming former slaves infuriated many of the Confederates, General McCulloch noted that it was the black enlisted men who stood and fought while their white, Yankee officers fled the battle. The Texans fought heroically and though the Union position was well defended they more than lived up to the reputation of Texas troops being unstoppable on the attack. They pushed the federal troops back to the river, inflicting heavy losses until finally being stopped by Union gunboats against which the Confederates had nothing to fight back with. It was a dramatic operation, but had no real impact on the situation in the besieged city of Vicksburg.

That situation had, by the end of June, reached the critical point. The city was on its knees and soldiers and civilians alike were slowly starving to death as supplies dwindled to almost nothing. By now the hope of relief by General Johnston had faded. By the end of the month Grant had enough troops to outnumber both Pemberton and Johnston comfortably. The Union government moved in additional forces from the east and the west and Grant established an exterior line of fortifications defended by 34,000 troops and 72 guns to guard against any attack by Johnston, though such an attack ultimately never came. Union forces also made several efforts to tunnel underneath the Confederate trenches and blow them up, efforts which resulted in some magnificent explosions, but none of which were able to dislodge the Confederates who beat back every attack. Yet, time had run out for Vicksburg. The population had been reduced to an starved, bombed but defiant people living in holes in the ground and the army was a ragged collection of emaciated men who had reached the end of human endurance. A letter signed by many soldiers was sent to Pemberton informing him that unless they could be fed they had better be surrendered, otherwise the instinctive urge for survival against hunger would see the army disintegrate by desertion.

General Pemberton struggled with the decision and would have preferred to place himself at the front of his men and attempt a breakout, effectively desiring to go down in a blaze of glory, but his officers dissuaded him. Vicksburg had to be surrendered. General Pemberton told his men that, as a northerner, he believed his people would offer the best terms if they negotiated the surrender on the Fourth of July. Ironically enough, on July 1 General Johnston had finally started to move west with his army, slowly. However, upon reaching the Big Black River on July 3 Johnston halted, stating that it would be impossible for him to force his way across with his present forces. By then, it was far too late.

The negotiations were not to go smoothly. After taking Fort Donnellson Grant, whose initials were U.S. had earned the nickname of "Unconditional Surrender" Grant and many on the Union side expected him to demand the same at Vicksburg, to make no promises whatsoever for Confederates who surrender. This was a serious matter since, early in the war especially, the Lincoln administration was reluctant to recognize the Confederates who surrendered as prisoners of war. They preferred to treat them as criminals, traitors to the United States government, since to do otherwise would have implied that the Confederate States of America were a legitimate government, which Lincoln vehemently denied, at least when it suited him. Needless to say this stance did not last long when the Confederates managed to do so well in the field and faced with the threat of the Confederacy meting out the same treatment to Union prisoners as their own men received, the federal government soon backed down. Nonetheless, when Pemberton first offered to meet to discuss the terms of surrender, Grant did indeed send a message back saying that only a surrender without terms would be accepted. Pemberton hoped Grant was not serious, but when the two met between the lines after a cease-fire was declared that is exactly what Grant demanded.

"Then, sir, it is unnecessary that you and I should hold any further conversation; we will go on fighting at once" Pemberton said. Then, just as he left, Pemberton leveled his finger at Grant and grimly declared, "I can assure you general that you will bury men more of your men before you enter Vicksburg". At this Grant quickly proposed another meeting of their subordinate commanders and then the two sat under a tree and talked about their days in the Mexican War. Pemberton had proved that if an unconditional surrender was all Grant would offer, the Confederates preferred to fight to the death if they would not at least be accorded honor in defeat. After meeting with his generals, Grant was forced to concede that an unconditional surrender would not happen. Pemberton might try something desperate and even if a mass surrender did happen, it would take extensive manpower to deal with so many prisoners. Grant sent a message to Pemberton offering to parole his army if they surrendered and even leaked work to Confederate pickets hoping that they would desert to surrender if Pemberton did not. When Pemberton received the message, his first thought was to reject it, but the rest of his generals were adamant that there was no choice but to surrender.

Pemberton wrote back to Grant, accepting his terms but with the amendment that his men be able to march out under arms and under their own flags to stack their weapons before their lines and then leave them for Grant to take possession. Asking this piece of dignity was too much for Grant who, perhaps just realizing again that he was the one in a position of strength, refused the amendment and threatened that hostilities would resume if his prior message was not agreed to. Seeing no other option, General Pemberton was forced to agree, accept the terms as they were and surrender the garrison and city of Vicksburg to Ulysses Grant. The victory was announced and the ragged, starved Confederates received their paroles and headed home. The stunned, shell shocked citizens of Vicksburg watched in fuming silence as the troops in blue marched into the city and raised the US flag overhead. From that day until World War I the southern states refused to celebrate the Fourth of July which had seen the fall of the Gibraltar of the Confederacy. On July 9 Port Hudson Louisiana, the last Confederate outpost on the mighty river was taken by the north and the Mississippi fell entirely into the hands of the Union.

With the fall of Vicksburg the Confederate states had lost an army, a city and the largest river in the country. The Confederate States were split in two and would never be rejoined. The day before the surrender, on July 3, 1863, General Robert E. Lee had met his first defeat as commander of the Army of Northern Virginia at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the largest battle ever fought in the Western Hemisphere. Before those two days the Confederacy, though troubled, was hopeful and defiant. Only two days later it seemed to many that the end was in sight. The unbeatable General Lee had been beaten and the Mighty Mississippi was in Union hands from end to end. However, the cause of the south was not over and the war would go on for two more bloody years after the fall of Vicksburg.

General John A. McClernand was briefly relieved of duty for self-promotion for a time but returned to participate in the Red River Campaign in which he was laid low by malaria. After the war he returned to politics. General James B. McPherson eventually became commander of the Army of the Tennessee and fought under Sherman in the Atlanta campaign. He was highly regarded but his battlefield performance leaves one wondering why. At the battle of Atlanta he became the only Union army commander to be killed in battle during the war. General William T. Sherman led the campaign against Atlanta, meeting at least one bloody defeat along the way before taking the city. Afterwards he earned the wrath of southerners for generations for his march across Georgia and South Carolina in which he made war ruthlessly on innocent civilians, burning, looting and pillaging the defenseless countryside. He became commander of the army after the war.

General Ulysses S. Grant went on to become supreme commander of all Union forces and was placed in command of the troops opposing Robert E. Lee in northern Virginia. Although celebrated by the north, Grant was consistently thwarted by Lee who guessed his every move and in the first few months of his command he had lost more men than the Union had lost throughout all of 1861, 1862 and 1863 combined in that theatre of war. Finally, after besieging Lee at Petersburg, Richmond was evacuated and he overtook the small, starving Confederate army at Appomattox Court House where he accepted Lee's surrender. He later cashed in on his success to become President of the United States, presiding over what is considered one of the most corrupt administrations in American history.

Confederate Brigadier General John S. Bowen was plagued by dysentery throughout the siege and died less than two weeks after being paroled. His absence was sorely felt by the south in the years to come. Brigadier General John Gregg fought at the battle of Chickamauga and later took command of Hood's Texas Brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia. He died in 1865 leading a counterattack in the trenches outside of Richmond. General Joseph Eggleston Johnston continued to have problems with President Davis. After the disaster at Chattanooga he was placed in command of the Army of Tennessee and fought Sherman throughout northwest Georgia. When Davis feared he would abandon Atlanta without a fight he was replaced by John Bell Hood. In 1865 he was reinstated by Lee to command the patchwork army opposing Sherman in North Carolina. Protesting that the situation was hopeless he fought skillfully before surrendering to Sherman at Durham. After the war he was elected to Congress.

Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton was ruined by the loss of Vicksburg. Because of his northern birth many southerners were especially suspicious and critical of him. Disgraced by his surrender he was given a cold shoulder after his exchange when he was able to return to duty. He resigned his commission and offered to fight on as a private soldier but President Davis came to his aid and made him a lieutenant colonel of artillery. Showing how devoted he truly was to the Confederacy he served with this reduced rank for the rest of the war. After hostilities were concluded he farmed in Virginia for a time but ultimately returned to the north where he died in Philadelphia in 1881.