Battle of Vicksburg: U.S. Grant’s Historic Victory

Today, May 18, is the anniversary of the start of the 1863 Battle of Vicksburg during the Civil War. The battle would end up being a historic victory for Union Gen. U.S. Grant, a battle that would eventually lead to his command of all Union forces and an overall victory in the bloody conflict for the Union. Vicksburg spelled the eventual doom of the Confederacy.

The assault/siege of Vicksburg officially began May 18. Before the battle, Grant’s plans proved both “brilliant” and “bold.” Both before and during the siege, he defied the “conventional” military wisdom to create a plan that succeeded far beyond the expectations of most. It is particularly fitting that the battle ended on July 4, Independence Day—it must have been a joyous July 4 indeed for gallant but weary Union troops. Yet the troops, and most particularly Grant himself, behaved with marked generosity to the conquered city.

The importance of Grant’s success can be seen in President Abraham Lincoln’s comment to a visitor about Grant and the whole Vicksburg campaign, which culminated in the successful siege: “Look at his campaign since May 1. Where is anything in the Old World that equals it? It stamps him as the greatest general of the age, if not of the world.” Together, Grant and his men had achieved the beginning of the end of the Confederacy.

A few quick facts on the Battle of Vicksburg:

‘Vicksburg’s strategic location on the Mississippi River made it a critical win for both the Union and the Confederacy. The Confederate surrender there ensured Union control of the Mississippi River and cleaved the South in two…

After a 47-day siege, Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton’s Confederate troops surrendered to Gen.  Ulysses S. Grant. Together with the Union victory at Gettysburg just a day before, Vicksburg marked a turning point in the fortunes of the Union army.’

You can read more here or here.

Grant himself later recalled the joy and relief of his men at the first sign of Confederate surrender, a surrender that perhaps no one but Grant really thought could be brought about: “It was a glorious sight to officers and soldiers on the line where these white flags were visible, and the news soon spread to all parts of the command. The troops felt that their long and weary marches, hard fighting, ceaseless watching by night and day, in a hot climate, exposure to all sorts of weather, to diseases and, worst of all, to the gibes of many Northern papers that came to them saying all their suffering was in vain, that Vicksburg would never be taken, were at last at an end and the Union sure to be saved.”

Vicksburg showed Grant’s unique leadership style, his ability to think outside the box, his brilliance in disregarding foolish or inapplicable rules. One example involves an order sent to Grant by Gen. Halleck.¹ Grant and his men had already gone beyond what the order aimed for, and the officer bearing the message declared in alarm that Halleck certainly expected Grant to obey the order. Hearing a cheer from his troops where brigadier Michael Lawler was heading a charge, Grant answered the officer by simply mounting and riding away to continue supervising his battle plan. Grant had no intention of either trying to comply with Halleck’s order retroactively or of arguing about it. He did what he had to do regardless of bureaucracy.

Another example is Grant’s reaction to another general’s narrow mentality. Gen. William Rosecrans had actually refused an order to advance and meet the Confederates while Grant was besieging Vicksburg because, according to Rosecrans, there was a “military maxim ‘not to fight two decisive battles at the same time.’” Grant found the excuse completely insufficient. “If true, the maxim was not applicable in this case. It would be bad to be defeated in two decisive battles fought the same day, but it would not be bad to win them,” Grant stated.

The Vicksburg victory was so impressive, so vital for the Union cause, that President Lincoln sent an extraordinary letter on the occasion to Grant:

‘My dear General

I do not remember that you and I ever met personally. I write this now as a grateful acknowledgment for the almost inestimable service you have done the country. I wish to say a word further. When you first reached the vicinity of Vicksburg, I thought you should do, what you finally did — march the troops across the neck, run the batteries with the transports, and thus go below; and I never had any faith, except a general hope that you knew better than I, that the Yazoo Pass expedition, and the like, could succeed. When you got below, and took Port-Gibson, Grand Gulf, and vicinity, I thought you should go down the river and join Gen. Banks; and when you turned Northward East of the Big Black, I feared it was a mistake. I now wish to make the personal acknowledgment that you were right, and I was wrong.

Yours very truly
A. Lincoln’

It takes a great man to have the vision to see what others do not, as Grant did; it also takes a great man to admit willingly and humbly that he was wrong, as Lincoln did. Indeed, these two great men, Lincoln and Grant, along with another outstanding commander of Vicksburg (William Sherman), would end up forming a powerful partnership that would end both slavery and the war, giving the loyal American forces their ultimate triumph.

1. This story and the Lincoln quote above it come from the book The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace by HW Brands.