Gettysburg and Vicksburg

1
Gettysburg and Vicksburg

• Lesson 8

2
Gettysburg
3
Confederate Command

• With Jackson, Lee had grown accustomed to issuing
  broad orders and having Jackson respond in an
  aggressive, semi-independent fashion
• Death of Jackson requires Lee to reorganize
• Creates three corps (Longstreet, Ewell, and A. P.
  Hill)
• Ewell and Hill are new to corps command
• Lee will fail to adjust his leadership style to
  meet the needs of his new subordinates
• "If I would have had Stonewall Jackson at
  Gettysburg, I would have won that fight."

4
Gettysburg

• Confederacy had to choose between Eastern and
  Western theaters
• Lees argument for the Eastern theater was
  accepted
• Relieve pressure on Virginia
• Gain a victory on Northern soil
• Possibility of foreign recognition and a
  negotiated peace

(Doughty, 180)
5
Gettysburg, Day 1

• Meade has replaced Hooker
• Stuart is riding around Federal army
• Deprives Lee of his eyes
• Battle begins 1 July as forces meet northwest of
  town
• Both sides commit reinforcements
• Confederate forces are closer and gain upper hand
• Day ends with Confederates driving Federals south
  of town and Federals defending from Culps Hill
  and Cemetery Hill in a fish hook configuration

6
Gettysburg, Day 1
7
Gettysburg, Day 1

• Lees orders
• Tells Ewell to capture Cemetery Hill if
  practicable, but doesnt insist on it
• Ewell decides not to
• Federals able to keep Cemetery Hill and use it as
  the foundation for their defensive line

8
Gettysburg, Day 2

• Longstreets corps to conduct main attack on 2
  July against Federal left.
• Attack began late at 1630 w/o recon.
• Consisted of massed artillery followed by massed
  infantry.
• Severe fighting on Little Round Top.
• Attack unsuccessful but to be renewed next day.

9
Little Round Top and OCOKA
10
OCOKA

• Observation and Fields of Fire
• Cover and Concealment
• Obstacles
• Key Terrain
• Avenues of Approach

11
General G. K. Warren

• Meades Chief of Engineers
• Endowed with an excellent feel for ground.
• Clark, Gettysburg The Confederate High Tide, P.
  77

• Warren surveyed the scene from the top of Little
  Round Top to the east and noted its criticality.
• Finding no Federal troops on Little Round Top he
  dispatched aides to find troops to defend the
  hill.

12
Obstacles

• From the orchard, another ridge ran off to the
  southeast, terminating about 1,100 yards in a
  fantastic jumble of huge granite boulders called
  Devils Den. Between Devils Den and Little
  Round Top, 500 yards to the east, was a marshy,
  rock-strewn swale that would soon be known as the
  valley of death through it flowed a little
  stream named Plum Run.
• Clark, P.76

• This was miserable ground
• (The valley between Devils
• Den and Round Tops) for a
• fight, the rocks and gullies
• breaking up formation so
• that there seemed to be no
• connecting lines of any
• kind.
• Catton P.291

13
Key Terrain

• The citadel of the field
• James Longstreet
• With this little mountain in the Confederates
  possession, the whole position would be
  untenable.
• PVT Theodore Garrish
• With half an hour I could convert Little Round
  Top into Gibraltar that I could hold against ten
  times the number of men that I had.
• COL William Oates
• If the Rebels ever got Little Round Top the
  whole of Cemetery Ridge would have to be
  abandoned and the battle would be lost once and
  for all.
• Catton, P.291

14
Observation/Fields of Fire

• In plain view of the Union signal station on
  Little Round Top, some of (Lees) forces were
  compelled to make a wide detour.. to avoid
  observation.
• Storrick, The Battle of Gettysburg, P.26
• In front of and to the left, open fields
  stretched away
• Photographic Sketchbook of the Civil War,
  Gardner, Plate 38
• A portion of Gettysburg, located
• in front of Little Round Top, is known
• as the Slaughter Pen. Upon the
• conclusion of that engagement,
• the ground was found in many places
• to be almost covered with the
• dead and the wounded.
• Gardner, Plate 44
• If Little Round Top were lost, the Union line on
  Cemetery Hill would be exposed to a deadly
  enfilading fire.
• Catton, AH Picture History, P.335

15
Observation/Fields of Fire

• Little Round Top had been recently cleared of
  timber
• Therefore it had better observation and fields of
  fire than the more heavily wooded but taller Big
  Round Top

16
Cover and Concealment

• Very craggy and full of boulders
• Catton, P. 285
• Breastworks of stone and timberinstantaneously
  thrown up .each change in the lineswas marked
  by defenses of stones, our troops never
  neglecting thus to protect themselves.
• Gardner Plate 38

17
Avenues of Approach

• An even fold of high land ran off southeast from
  the Peach
• Orchard in the direction of the Round Tops. This
  ground was
• rugged, with little hills and ravines and woods
  and rocky ledges,
• and if the Rebels got in there they would be
• squarely on the Federal left flank and
• it might be extremely hard to
• dislodge them.
• Catton, P.286

18
Gettysburg, Day 2
19
Gettysburg, Day 3

• Longstreet opposed attack renewal and urged
  turning movement.
• Lee ordered attack nonetheless.
• Result was 3 July Picketts Charge.
• Inelegant massed artillery and massed infantry
  frontal assault.
• Proved anew the lethality of defense and weakness
  of tactical offense.

20
Gettysburg, Day 3
21
Gettysburg Results

• Army of Northern Virginia lost 20,000 (1/3 of
  strength)
• ANVs offensive capability blunted for rest of
  war
• Army of Potomac pursuit of ANV to Potomac River
  was ineffective.
• Lincoln disappointed wanted destruction of ANV.

22
Vicksburg
23
Vicksburg
24
Vicksburg

• Mission
• Enemy
• Terrain and Weather
• Troops and Equipment
• Time
• Civilians

25
Mission

• Seize Vicksburg in order to control the
  Mississippi River and separate the Confederacy in
  two

26
Enemy

• Pemberton
• Five divisions totaling 43,000 effectives
• Pemberton fell under Johnstons Department of the
  West
• By early June, Johnston had gathered 31,000 men
  to relieve Pemberton, but he retreated instead
• No ironclads and only a few wooden gunboats

27
Terrain

• Strategic importance
• Control of the Mississippi
• Located astride the railroad that linked
  Shreveport, LA (and thus the three states west of
  the river) to the eastern transportation network

28
Terrain

• Northeast of Vicksburg was the Delta
• Flat, periodically flooded area coursed by
  streams of various navigability
• Steeles Bayou, Tallahatchie River, Yazoo River,
  etc
• Steep banked creeks, uncleared swamplands
• West of Vicksburg was Louisiana
• Even flatter and swampier
• Would require much corduroying of roads

29
Bayou Expeditions
30
Helena
Yazoo Pass
Mississippi River
Fort Pemberton
Steeles Bayou
Lake Providence
Yazoo River
Duckport
Snyders (Haynes) Bluff
Vicksburg
Grants Canal
Bayou Expeditions
31
Terrain

• Vicksburg was part of a line of bluffs that
  extended from Columbus, KY to Baton Rouge, LA
• Formed an escarpment
• that greatly favored the
• defense both on land
• and on water

32
Vicksburg Bluff Line
33
Fortifications on the Mississippi
KY
MO
Columbus
New Madrid
Is. No. 10
TN
Ft. Pillow
Memphis
AR
MS
AL
LA
Vicksburg
Grand Gulf
Port Hudson
New Orleans
Ft. St. Philip
Ft. Jackson
34
River-Bluff Interface Grand Gulf
35
Troops

• Army
• Grant- Army of the Tennessee
• Hurlbut- XVI Corps (headquartered in Memphis,
  largely performing rear area missions)
• Sherman- XV Corps
• McPherson- XVII Corps
• McClernand- XIII Corps
• Maneuver force of ten divisions (44,000
  effectives)

36
Troops

• Navy
• Mississippi River Squadron commanded by Flag
  Officer David Porter
• About 60 combat vessels of which 20 to 25 would
  support the Vicksburg operation at any one time
• 13 ironclads

37
Time

• Not an issue
• Siege lasted 47 days

38
Civilians

• About 3,000 lived in Vicksburg
• Many took shelter in caves
• Some held up to 200
• Toward the end of the siege, the daily ration was
  "two common biscuits, two rashers (slices) of
  bacon, a few peas and a spoon full of rice ..."

39
Tempo of Operations
1862
1863
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
March Down River
End TN/KY Campaign
Siege
Bayou Expeditions
First Offensives
Campaign
40
Yazoo River
Snyders (Haynes) Bluff
Millikens Bend
Chickasaw Bayou
Youngs Point
Edwards
Vicksburg
Champion Hill
Jackson
Raymond
Mississippi River
Big Black River
Vicksburg Campaign Overview
Grand Gulf
Willow Springs
Port Gibson
Bruinsburg
Route of Grants Army
Rodney
41
Millikens Bend
SPT
SPT
Youngs Point
March To Bruinsburg I 31 March-18 April
42
Millikens Bend
SPT
SPT
Youngs Point
March To Bruinsburg II 19-30 April
Rodney
43
SPT
SPT
Jackson
Mississippi River
Campaign of Maneuver 1 May
Port Gibson
44
SPT
SPT
Jackson
Mississippi River
Big Black River
Willow Springs
Campaign of Maneuver 2 May
Big Bayou Pierre
45
SPT
SPT
Jackson
Mississippi River
Big Black River
SPT
Campaign of Maneuver 3 May
Big Bayou Pierre
46
SPT
SPT
Jackson
Mississippi River
Big Black River
SPT
Campaign of Maneuver 4 May
Big Bayou Pierre
47
SPT
SPT
Jackson
Mississippi River
Big Black River
SPT
Campaign of Maneuver 5 May
Big Bayou Pierre
48
SPT
SPT
Jackson
Mississippi River
Big Black River
SPT
Campaign of Maneuver 6 May
Big Bayou Pierre
49
SPT
SPT
Jackson
Mississippi River
Big Black River
SPT
Campaign of Maneuver 7 May
Big Bayou Pierre
50
SPT
SPT
Jackson
Mississippi River
Big Black River
SPT
Campaign of Maneuver 8 May
Big Bayou Pierre
51
SPT
SPT
Jackson
Mississippi River
Big Black River
SPT
Campaign of Maneuver 9 May
Big Bayou Pierre
52
Big Black River
SPT
SPT
Edwards
Jackson
Mississippi River
Raymond
SPT
Campaign of Maneuver 10 May
Big Bayou Pierre
53
Big Black River
SPT
SPT
Edwards
Mississippi River
Raymond
SPT
Campaign of Maneuver 11 May
54
Big Black River
SPT
SPT
Bovina
Edwards
Jackson
Mississippi River
SPT
Campaign of Maneuver 12 May
55
Big Black River
SPT
SPT
Bovina
Jackson
Mississippi River
SPT
Campaign of Maneuver 13 May
56
Big Black River
SPT
SPT
Bovina
Champion Hill
Mississippi River
Raymond
SPT
Campaign of Maneuver 14 May
57
Big Black River
SPT
SPT
Bovina
Mississippi River
Raymond
SPT
Campaign of Maneuver 15 May
58
Big Black River
SPT
SPT
Bovina
Jackson
Mississippi River
Raymond
SPT
Campaign of Maneuver 16 May
59
Big Black River
SPT
SPT
Jackson
Mississippi River
Raymond
SPT
Campaign of Maneuver 17 May
60
SPT
Big Black River
SPT
SPT
Jackson
Mississippi River
SPT
Raymond
Campaign of Maneuver 18 May
61
Siege of Vicksburg
Fort Hill
Stockade Redan
3d Louisiana Redan
62
Gettysburg and Vicksburg

• Defeat at Vicksburg and Gettysburg cost
  Confederates about 50,000-60,000 casualties.
• More manpower loss than Confederacy could
  sustain.
• Gettysburg was/is largest and costliest battle in
  North America.
• Three-days of fighting cost both sides about
  50,000.

63
Which was more important?

• Gettysburg
• Repulse of Confederate invasion on Union soil
• Ends any Confederate hope of foreign recognition
• Lees Army escapes

• Vicksburg
• Cuts off the eastern Confederacy from
  Trans-Mississippi food supplies
• Weakens morale in the Army of the Tennessee
• Nearly 40,000 Confederates killed, wounded, or
  surrendered
• Union now controls Mississippi River

64
Homework

• Scan Maurice Matloff, ed., American Military
  History. Washington U.S. Army and U.S.
  Government Printing Office, 1973, Chapter 12
• http//hubcap.clemson.edu/eemoise/matloff12.1.htm
  l