Grant Leads the Union Battle of Vicksburg

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Grant Leads the Union Battle of Vicksburg

• Pgs. 173-174

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A Boost for the Union

• A boost for the North came when President Lincoln
  finally found a general as good as Confederate
  general Robert E. Lee.
• His name was Ulysses S. Grant.

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Uylsses S. Grant

• Like Lee, Grant had been educated at West Point
  and had fought in the war with Mexico.
• When the Civil War began, Grant offered his
  services to the Union army.
• His quick decisions in battle led to Union
  victories.
• Northerners liked to say that Grants initials
  stood for Unconditional Surrender!

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Battle of Vicksburg

• Vicksburg, Mississippi, was an important city for
  the Confederate Army during the Civil War.
• On May 19, 1863, Ulysses S. Grant attacked
  Vicksburg with the intent to take over the city.
• The Union navy had already prevented other
  regiments from joining the Confederates at
  Vicksburg, but the Southern city held strong.
  Grant, however, did not stop there.

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Battle of Vicksburg

• Grant settled down to a six-week siege,
  surrounding the city, cutting off supply lines,
  firing upon Vicksburg continually, and moving in
  so close that, at some points, Union and
  Confederate soldiers held their lines within
  shouting distance.
• By mid-June 1863, 80,000 Union troops camped on
  the Mississippi River bluffs above the city.
• To escape, Vicksburg residents left their homes
  for caves in the city's hills.
• The Union soldiers called this maze of dugouts
  "Prairie Dog Village." The people of the village
  were starving and tired but still held on to hope.

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Surrender at Vicksburg

• By the forty-fourth day, with no supplies coming
  into town, the editor of Vicksburg's Daily
  Citizen was reduced to printing the news on
  wallpaper.
• He wrote that Ulysses S. Grant wished to
  celebrate the Fourth of July "dining in
  Vicksburg." Little did the writer know that on
  July 4, 1863, the Confederates would surrender.

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Battle of Vicksburg

• Vicksburg proved to be a key victory for the
  North.
• It gave the Union control of the Mississippi
  River which weakened the Confederacy by cutting
  it into two parts.
• As a result of winning at Vicksburg, President
  Lincoln gave Grant command of all Union troops.

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