Importance Of The Battle Of Gettysburg And Vicksburg
Vicksburg, Mississippi is a city in the heartland of the Deep South. It sits on high bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River near the mouth of the Yazoo River. Settled in 1790, Vicksburg was and is important shipping and trading center. During the Civil War, Vicksburg was a key factor in the control of the entire Mississippi River. Confederates fortified it with guns and field artillery to keep the city out of the Union's hands. The Union knew it wasn't going to be easy. In the siege of Vicksburg, Farragut tried to take the city, Grant took over, and he seized the city. General Farragut, a Union general, reaches Vicksburg on May 26, 1862. His ships fired 20 shots and continued down stream. He finally withdrew from Vicksburg and headed south to Baton Rouge. In October of 1862 the commander of Tennessee was brought in to clear the Confederates off their turf. Ulysses S. Grant replaced Farragut to finish what he started. Gen. Pemberton was brought in to lead in Vicksburg's defenses. His original attempts to capture the city were his "experiments". He knew they most likely would not work, but wanted to find the best way to attack. Grant was now in position to take what he wanted, Vicksburg. He his three corps had taken position
Although living conditions were different, the strategy was similar. Many times the Union army had to play defensively. The development of trench warfare began. If supplies or ammo got too low, sometimes they would charge and attack the Southerners, like Colonel Chamberlain did when he was defending the line. The Confederate army under the command of General Lee would march all the way to the gate and try to capture it. as follows: Sherman was on the river above, McClernand was on the river below, and McPherson was centered at the rear Food ran low. They had to eat mule, horse, dog, and bread made of corn and dried peas. A soldier gave a girl a jaybird as a pet. Her mom later made the bird into soup (Ward 214). There was also a lack of water. It was not sanitary to drink muddy, river water. Most of the drinking water came from springs that the union controlled. The temperature would get up to 110 degrees. Disease was even worse now (Foote 403). No one thought an evacuation would work. Confederates were simply exhausted and overpowered. Finally on July 3, Pemberton sent a message under a flag of truce to Grant. They met earlier that day. Pemberton did not like the terms of surrender and in anger turned and walked away. One of his commanders worked things out and he agreed. On July 4, 1863, Confederates marched out of their trenches and stacked the arms. Union soldiers did not celebrate. They stood silently out of respect for the Confederates. Later that day, Grant went to the courthouse to watch the stars and stripes be placed on the flagpole (Korn 155). When in combat, both sides had the same kind of artillery. Soldiers used muskets and small handguns and generals on the other hand would ride on horseback with a sword and pistol. Another type of weaponry that was used was cannons. Even though cannons were much more powerful, muskets were easier due to the fact that they were
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Gen Pemberton,
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Battle Gettysburg,
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Emancipation Proclamation,
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Approximate Word count = 1293
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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