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Vicksburg National Military Park, Mississippi-William C. Everhart · Across the Reef- The Marine Assault of Tarawa

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  Speaker 1: Part one of Vicksburg National Military Park, Mississippi. This is
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  Speaker 1: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Recording by David Wales. Vicksburg National Military Park, Mississippi by
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  Speaker 1: William C. Everhardt, Part one. Across the imperishable canvas of
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  Speaker 1: the American Civil War are vividly recorded feats of arms
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  Speaker 1: and armies, and acts of courage and steadfast devotion, which
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  Speaker 1: have since become a treasured heritage for all Americans. Among
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  Speaker 1: the military campaigns, few if any, present action over so
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  Speaker 1: vast an area of such singular diversity, and so consequential
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  Speaker 1: to the outcome of the war, as the great struggle
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  Speaker 1: for control of the Mississippi River. Seagoing men of war
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  Speaker 1: and ironclad gunships engaged shore defenses and escorted troops along
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  Speaker 1: river and bayou. Cavalry raids struck far behind enemy lines,
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  Speaker 1: as the armies of the West marched and countermarched in
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  Speaker 1: a gigantic operation which culminated in the campaign and siege
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  Speaker 1: of Vicksburg. Protected by heavy artillery batteries on the river
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  Speaker 1: front and with land approaches to the north and south.
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  Speaker 1: Guarded by densely wooded swamp lands, Vicksburg defied large scale
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  Speaker 1: land and river expeditions for over a year. Finally, the
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  Speaker 1: Tenacious Grant, in a campaign since accepted as a model
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  Speaker 1: of bold strategy and skillful execution, forced the surrender of
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  Speaker 1: Vicksburg on July fourth, eighteen sixty three, splitting the Confederacy
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  Speaker 1: in two and securing for the North its great objective
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  Speaker 1: in the western theater, Vicksburg and the Mississippi. Control of
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  Speaker 1: the Mississippi River, whose course meandered over one thousand miles
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  Speaker 1: from Cairo, Illinois to the Gold of Mexico and divided
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  Speaker 1: the Confederacy into almost equal parts, was of inestimable importance
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  Speaker 1: to the Union. From the outbreak of hostilities, the agricultural
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  Speaker 1: and industrial products of the Northwest, denied their natural outlet
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  Speaker 1: to markets down the great commercial Artery to New Orleans
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  Speaker 1: would be afforded uninterrupted passage. It would provide a safe
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  Speaker 1: avenue for the transportation of troops and their supplies through
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  Speaker 1: a tremendous area ill provided with roads and railroads. The
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  Speaker 1: numerous navigable streams tributary to the Mississippi would offer ready
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  Speaker 1: routes of invasion into the heart of the South. Union
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  Speaker 1: control would cut off and isolate the section of the
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  Speaker 1: Confederacy lying west of the river, Texas, Arkansas, and most
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  Speaker 1: of Louisiana, comprising almost half of the land area of
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  Speaker 1: the Confederacy and an important source of food, military supplies,
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  Speaker 1: and recruits for the Southern armies. Forcefully emphasizing the strategic
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  Speaker 1: value of the Mississippi was the dispatch of the General
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  Speaker 1: in Chief of the Union Armies to Major General U. S.
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  Speaker 1: Grant on March twenty, eighteen sixty three, as Graham prepared
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  Speaker 1: to launch his Vicksburg campaign. The great objective on your
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  Speaker 1: line now is the opening of the Mississippi River, and
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  Speaker 1: everything else must tend to that purpose. The eyes and
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  Speaker 1: hopes of the whole country are now directed to your army.
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  Speaker 1: In my opinion, the opening of the Mississippi River will
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  Speaker 1: be to us a more advantage than the capture of
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  Speaker 1: forty Richmonds. To protect this by the lifeline, the Confederacy
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  Speaker 1: had erected a series of fortifications at readily defensible locations
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  Speaker 1: along the river from which the Union advance could be checked.
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  Speaker 1: Pushing southward from Illinois by land and water, and northward
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  Speaker 1: from the Gulf of Mexico by river. Union army and
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  Speaker 1: naval units attack the Confederates strong points from both ends
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  Speaker 1: of the line. They captured post by post and city
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  Speaker 1: by city. Until after the first year of the war,
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  Speaker 1: Vicksburg alone barred complete Union possession of the Mississippi River.
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  Speaker 1: From the city ran the only railroad west of the
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  Speaker 1: river between Memphis and New Orleans. Through the city. Most
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  Speaker 1: of the supplies from the trans Mississippi were shipped to
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  Speaker 1: Confederate armies in the east. The city's batteries on the bluffs,
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  Speaker 1: commanding a five mile stretch of the river, effectively prevented
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  Speaker 1: Union control of the Mississippi. Vicksburg was, indeed the key,
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  Speaker 1: declared Lincoln, and the war could not be brought to
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  Speaker 1: a successful conclusion until that key is in our pocket.
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  Speaker 1: The first moves against Vicksburg. David Farragut, first Admiral of
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  Speaker 1: the United States Navy, early in May eighteen sixty two,
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  Speaker 1: headed his Western Gulf Squadron of ocean going vessels up
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  Speaker 1: the Mississippi in a spectacle ular engagement. He passed the
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  Speaker 1: forts protecting New Orleans and captured the south's largest Sport City,
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  Speaker 1: Proceeding four hundred miles up river, Farragut received the surrenders
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  Speaker 1: of Baton Rouge, a capital of Louisiana, and Natchez, Mississippi,
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  Speaker 1: arriving before Vicksburg on May eighteen, just one year before
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  Speaker 1: Grant's army invested the city from the rear. At the
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  Speaker 1: same time, Flag Officer C. H. Davis was moving down
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  Speaker 1: the Mississippi River from the north, commanding a flotilla whose
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  Speaker 1: striking power was largely provided by a ram fleet under
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  Speaker 1: Colonel Charles Ellett Junior and the seven Puk Turtles, ironclad
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  Speaker 1: gunboats built on the northern rivers, which mounted thirteen guns
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  Speaker 1: in an armored gatesmade resting on a flat bottomed hull.
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  Speaker 1: After capturing Memphis in June eighteen sixty two and completely
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  Speaker 1: destroying the Confederate fleet of converted river steamboats, Davis pushed southward,
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  Speaker 1: and on July fir dropped anchor beside Farragut's fleet just
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  Speaker 1: north of Vicksburg. All of the Mississippi River was now
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  Speaker 1: in Union possession except for a section at and below Vicksburg.
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  Speaker 1: The batteries of Vicksburg had been passed for the first
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  Speaker 1: time on June twenty eight. On that day, Farragut blasted
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  Speaker 1: the city in its defenses with broadsides from his ships
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  Speaker 1: and a devastating fire from Commander David dixon Porter's mortar boats,
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  Speaker 1: in an unsuccessful attempt to reduce the city by naval attack.
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  Speaker 1: It was clearly evident from this experience that a powerful
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  Speaker 1: land force would be required to capture Fortress Vicksburg. Only
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  Speaker 1: three thousand troops under Brigadier General Thomas Williams had accompanied
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  Speaker 1: the expedition, and they were put to work with pick
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  Speaker 1: and shovel to dig a cutoff which might permit river
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  Speaker 1: traffic to bypass the Vicksburg batteries. As the fleets idled
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  Speaker 1: above Vicksburg, the sweltering monotony was spectacularly interrupted by the
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  Speaker 1: short but battlefield career of the Confederate ironclad Ram Arkansas,
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  Speaker 1: which performed at Vicksburg one of the great feats of
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  Speaker 1: arms on the Western Waters. The energy and skill of
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  Speaker 1: Lieutenant Isaac N. Brown, who commanded the Arkansas, had enabled
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  Speaker 1: the Ram to be readied for action despite almost impossible
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  Speaker 1: handicaps in securing materials routing the Union vessels sent to
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  Speaker 1: apprehend her. The venturesome man of war stood for the
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  Speaker 1: two Federal fleets lying at Anchor just above Vicksburg, and
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  Speaker 1: with guns blazing, passed entirely through the mass flotillas to
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  Speaker 1: safety under the Vicksburg batteries. Here, the Arkansas with stood
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  Speaker 1: all attempts to destroy her and presented a formidable threat
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  Speaker 1: to Farragut's wooden ships. By the end of July, conditions
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  Speaker 1: indicated to Farragut that a withdrawal from Vicksburg was necessary.
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  Speaker 1: In the hot, fetid atmosphere of the river, the disease
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  Speaker 1: rate had so increased that only eight hundred of William's
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  Speaker 1: three thousand men were fit for duty. At the same time,
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  Speaker 1: the steadily falling waters threatened to maroon his deep draft vessels. Farragut,
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  Speaker 1: with William's troops aboard, moved downriver to New Orleans, while
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  Speaker 1: Davis steamed upriver, leaving Vicksburg unopposed. The initial expedition against
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  Speaker 1: Vicksburg had failed. With the Union withdrawal, communications between the
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  Speaker 1: sections of the Confederacy east and west of the Mississippi,
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  Speaker 1: which had been temporarily curtailed, were resumed. From Vicksburg to
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  Speaker 1: Port Hudson, a distance of two hundred and fifty miles
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  Speaker 1: by river. The Mississippi was now in Confederate hands. Into
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  Speaker 1: the Mississippi just above Port Hudson emptied the Red River,
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  Speaker 1: which drained much of the trans Mississippi south and down
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  Speaker 1: which great stores of food were being floated to supply
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  Speaker 1: the armies of the Confederacy. It was imperative for the
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  Speaker 1: North to close off this important supply route Grant's first
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  Speaker 1: failure at Vicksburg. In October eighteen sixty two, Grant, who
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  Speaker 1: had won the sobriquet of unconditional surrender at Fort Donaldson
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  Speaker 1: and had rallied his army from near defeat at Bloody Shiloh,
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  Speaker 1: was placed in command of the Department of the Tennessee
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  Speaker 1: with headquarters at Memphis. His subjective to clear the Mississippi River.
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  Speaker 1: The same month, Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton, a west
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  Speaker 1: Pointer born and raised in Pennsylvania who had served with
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  Speaker 1: Grant in the Mexican War, was placed in command of
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  Speaker 1: the Confederate troops defending the Mississippi. His objective to keep
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  Speaker 1: the southern supply line open and prevent loss of the river.
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  Speaker 1: Vicksburg would be the focus of military operations for both
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  Speaker 1: commanders The first full scale expedition against Vicksburg was initiated
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  Speaker 1: in December eighteen sixty two, with Grant pushing southward through
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  Speaker 1: the state of Mississippi to strike Vicksburg from the rear.
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  Speaker 1: As Major General William To comes to Sherman with an
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  Speaker 1: army of thirty two thousand men aboard sixty transports, proceeded
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  Speaker 1: downriver from Memphis. Grant anticipated that his advance would pull
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  Speaker 1: Pemberden's army away from Vicksburg, permitting Sherman to make a
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  Speaker 1: lodgment on the bluffs immediately north of the city against
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  Speaker 1: a greatly reduced garrison. On December twenty, Major General Earl
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  Speaker 1: Van Doren, with a striking force of three thousand, five
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  Speaker 1: hundred Confederate cavalry, swung in behind the Union line of March,
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  Speaker 1: capturing and burning one million, five hundred thousand dollars of
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  Speaker 1: military goods at Grant's supply base in Holly Springs. Unwilling
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  Speaker 1: to wage a campaign without a basive supply, Grant abandoned
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  Speaker 1: his campaign and returned to Memphis. Sherman made his assault
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  Speaker 1: on December twenty nine at Chickasaw Bayou, five miles north
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  Speaker 1: of Vicksburg. The land. Here was a low, swampy shelf
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  Speaker 1: lying between the Yazoo River and the bluffs. The few
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  Speaker 1: dry causeways over which the Federal infantry could advance were
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  Speaker 1: completely covered by Confederate rifle and artillery fire from the
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  Speaker 1: bluffs two hundred feet above. The Union army lost nearly
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  Speaker 1: two thousand men against Confederate casualties of less than two hundred. Tersely,
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  Speaker 1: Sherman reported his defeat. I reached Vicksburg at the time
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  Speaker 1: Appointed landed, assaulted, and failed the Bayou expeditions. Grant moves
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  Speaker 1: against Vicksburg and Faldes. By the end of January, Grant
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  Speaker 1: had arrived at the Union encampment at Milliken Bend, thirty
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  Speaker 1: miles north of Vicksburg, and assumed leadership of the operations
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  Speaker 1: against Vicksburg. His army, numbering about forty five thousand, was
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  Speaker 1: divided into three corps under General Sherman, Major General John mclarnand,
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  Speaker 1: and Major General James Birdseye Macpherson. Cooperating with the army
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  Speaker 1: and providing aid without which the Bayou Expedition would not
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  Speaker 1: have been possible, was the Western Flotilla under Porter. This
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  Speaker 1: fleet consisted of eleven iron clads, thirty eight wooden gunboats,
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  Speaker 1: rams and sundry auxiliary craft, mounting over three hundred guns
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  Speaker 1: and carrying a complement of five thousand, five hundred. The
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  Speaker 1: war in the West now hinged upon the effectiveness of
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  Speaker 1: this combined land and naval force. Under Grant's direction, it
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  Speaker 1: maneuvered over hundreds of miles of river and bayou, seeking
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  Speaker 1: to outflank Vicksburg. The capture of the city would result
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  Speaker 1: not from great battles, but from a war of movement.
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  Speaker 1: The geographical problem of Vicksburg. The capture of Vicksburg proved difficult,
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  Speaker 1: partly because of the topography of the area, which so
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  Speaker 1: favored defense of the city as to render the fortress
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  Speaker 1: almost impregnable to attack. To move against the city, it
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  Speaker 1: was necessary to reach the bluffs, which extended north and
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  Speaker 1: south and on which Vicksburg had been built. Behind the
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  Speaker 1: bluffs to the east lay dry ground on which an
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  Speaker 1: army might maneuver. Below the bluffs, on both sides of
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  Speaker 1: the river, flooded swamp lands prevented ground movements. With his
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  Speaker 1: army behind the bluffs, either above or below, Grant might
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  Speaker 1: come to grips with Pemberton's army of Vicksburg. Unless he
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  Speaker 1: reached the bluffs, capture of the city would be impossible.
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  Speaker 1: It could not be assaulted from the river. The line
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  Speaker 1: of bluffs, which marks the eastern boundary of the Mississippi Valley,
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  Speaker 1: leaves the river at Memphis, curves in a great two
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  Speaker 1: hundred and fifty mile arc away from the river, and
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  Speaker 1: then swings back to reach the river again at Vicksburg.
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  Speaker 1: Enclosed between the bluffs and the river is the Delta,
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  Speaker 1: a strip of land averaging some sixty miles in width,
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  Speaker 1: which is now a fertile, well drained cotton growing region.
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  Speaker 1: In eighteen sixty three, it was a swampy bottom land
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  Speaker 1: containing numerous vers and bayous subject to incessant floods. It
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  Speaker 1: was covered with thick forests and dense undergrowth, a condition which,
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  Speaker 1: according to Grant's engineer officer, renders the country almost impassable
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  Speaker 1: in summer, and entirely so except by boats in winter.
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  Speaker 1: This impenetrable swamp land lying before the bluffs effectively guarded
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  Speaker 1: Vicksburg's right flank. Unless the waterways of the Delta might
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  Speaker 1: provide a passage to the bluffs, operations against Vicksburg to
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  Speaker 1: the north were hopeless. South of Vicksburg. The prospect for
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  Speaker 1: the Union Army was equally dismal. After meeting the river
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  Speaker 1: at Vicksburg, the bluffs follow the river course closely to
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  Speaker 1: the south and were accessible therefore to troops from the
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  Speaker 1: Mississippi River, but the river batteries of the city prevented
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  Speaker 1: passage of transports to the river below. For troops to
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  Speaker 1: get below the city, it was necessary to move through
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  Speaker 1: the Louisiana lowlands west of the river. This region was
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  Speaker 1: like the Delta north of Vicksburg, flooded bottom lands interspersed
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  Speaker 1: with bayous rivers and lakes. It would prove equally obstinate
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  Speaker 1: to land movements. To increase Grant's difficulties, his campaign against
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  Speaker 1: Vicksburg was begun during the wet season, when streams were
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  Speaker 1: overflowing and lowlands impassable. The winter of eighteen sixty two
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  Speaker 1: sixty three was a period of unusually high water, the
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  Speaker 1: Mississippi cresting higher than its natural banks from December until April.
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  Speaker 1: Had Grant reached Vicksburg during the dry season, his problem
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  Speaker 1: would have been less formidable until the bottoms were dry
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  Speaker 1: enough to permit land movements. The Union commander felt himself
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  Speaker 1: compelled to keep the army active, even if success along
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  Speaker 1: the water routes seemed unlikely. He reasoned that prolonged idleness
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  Speaker 1: would be injurious to the health and morale of his troops.
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  Speaker 1: Grant had come to believe that military success was won
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  Speaker 1: by the aggressive. To Grant's critics, who demanded that he
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  Speaker 1: opened the Mississippi without delay or be replaced by someone
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  Speaker 1: who could, Lincoln replied, I can't spare this man. He fights.
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  Speaker 1: As Pemberton prepared to defend the Vicksburg, he was beset
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  Speaker 1: by difficulties rivaling those of his opponent. Despite the topography
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  Speaker 1: which was friendly to his defensive purpose, Vicksburg would be
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  Speaker 1: secure only so long as the Confederate Army could prevent
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  Speaker 1: Grant from achieving a foothold on the high ground above
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  Speaker 1: or below the city. Yet, to prevent such a lodgment,
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  Speaker 1: it was necessary for Pemberton to defend a wide front
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  Speaker 1: extending two hundred miles above and below Vicksburg at any
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  Speaker 1: point along which Grant might strike. To cover this large area,
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  Speaker 1: the Confederate commander would have to disperse his limited garrison dangerously,
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  Speaker 1: and at the same time retained sufficient troops to protect
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  Speaker 1: the city his primary responsibility. Under such conditions, it was
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  Speaker 1: essential for Pemberton to receive information of Federal movements in
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  Speaker 1: order to concentrate his troops rapidly to meet the advance.
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  Speaker 1: Yet Pemberton was almost wholly lacking a cavalry and had
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  Speaker 1: no navy to interfere with and report Union progress through
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  Speaker 1: the rivers and bayous. Both Pemberton and Grant faced exacting
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  Speaker 1: problems in command during the Vicksburg operations. Grant's canal Vicksburg's
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  Speaker 1: location on the Horseshoe bend of the river had suggested
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  Speaker 1: a solution to the Vicksburg problem the previous summer. By
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  Speaker 1: digging a canal across the peninsula below Vicksburg and diverting
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  Speaker 1: the river through it, unarmored transports could to bypass the
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  Speaker 1: city batteries and deliver troops safely to the bluffs below.
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  Speaker 1: In January, Sherman's Corps, assisted by dredging machines, began excavation
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  Speaker 1: of the mile long canal. This project continued until March,
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  Speaker 1: when a sudden rise in the river flooded the peninsula,
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  Speaker 1: driving the troops to the levees and destroying much of
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  Speaker 1: their work. Duckport canal. A similar effort to turn Vicksburg's
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  Speaker 1: left flank was essayed by cutting a canal at Duckport
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  Speaker 1: between Milliken's Bend and Vicksburg. By this avenue, it was
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  Speaker 1: hoped vessels might leave the Mississippi above Vicksburg, pass through
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  Speaker 1: a series of circuitous bayous, and emerge again on the
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  Speaker 1: Mississippi twenty miles below the city. The route was laboriously
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  Speaker 1: opened for navigation, and one small steamer safely passed to
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  Speaker 1: the river below. Then the level of the river fell
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  Speaker 1: and blocked the Duckport attempt Lake Providence expedition. While the
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  Speaker 1: canal work was in progress, Macpherson's Corps was assigned to
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  Speaker 1: the opening of the Lake Providence route. The objective of
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  Speaker 1: this activity was the turning of Vicksburg's left flank by
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  Speaker 1: passing southward through the Louisiana waterways to reach the bluffs
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  Speaker 1: below the city. A canal was cut to entrance from
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  Speaker 1: the Mississippi into Lake Providence, seventy five miles above Vicksburg.
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  Speaker 1: From Lake Providence, a route was surveyed through the labyrinth
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  Speaker 1: of bayous lakes and rivers by which a fleet might
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  Speaker 1: emerge again on the Mississippi two hundred miles below the
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  Speaker 1: city and move on Vicksburg from the south. While presenting
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  Speaker 1: great difficulties to navigation, the entire four hundred miles would
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  Speaker 1: be safe from enemy action. By the end of March
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty three, Macpherson's men had almost cleared the route
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  Speaker 1: for navigation. The dredging of shoals and the sawing off
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  Speaker 1: of trees far enough below the water to permit passage
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  Speaker 1: of the transports proved the most severe obstacles before this
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  Speaker 1: long and extremely difficult route could be completed. However, other
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  Speaker 1: more likely plans were formulated, and the Lake Providence Expedition
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  Speaker 1: was recalled the Yazoo's Pass Expedition. The Yazoo Pass project,
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  Speaker 1: which so ought to turn the right flank of Vicksburg
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  Speaker 1: by sending an expedition through the Delta waterways to the
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  Speaker 1: bluffs north of the city, was for a time the
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  Speaker 1: most promising of the Bayou attempts. By exploding a mine
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  Speaker 1: in the Yazoo Pass three hundred twenty five river miles
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  Speaker 1: north of Vicksburg, access from the Mississippi into the rivers
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  Speaker 1: of the Delta was secured with paddle wheels reversed against
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  Speaker 1: the roaring current, which surged through the crevasse and suffering
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  Speaker 1: extensive damage in collisions with trees and floating debris. The
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  Speaker 1: gunboats and transports carrying a division of infantry began the
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  Speaker 1: hazardous journey. Almost a month was required to reach the
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  Speaker 1: calmer waters of the Coldwater River. Notrtified of the threat,
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  Speaker 1: Pemberton dispatched Major General W. W. Lorings Division to halt
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  Speaker 1: the Union advance. Fort Pemberton, overlooking the Yalabusha River, ninety
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  Speaker 1: miles north of Vicksburg, was quickly constructed of earth and
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  Speaker 1: cotton bales. The land surrounding the fort was completely flooded,
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  Speaker 1: permitting approach by water only. On March eleven, the Union
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: gunboats began an artillery bombardment and were promptly greeted by
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  Speaker 1: a heavy return of fire as Old Blizzards. Loring gained
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  Speaker 1: his nickname by pacing the parapet and urging his gunners
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  Speaker 1: to give him blizzards, Boy, give him blizzards. Grant had
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  Speaker 1: planned to send thirty thousand men through the Yazoo Pass,
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  Speaker 1: but Loring's gunners blasted back every attempt to pass the fort,
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  Speaker 1: forcing the fleet to withdraw. The Yazoo Pass expedition was
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  Speaker 1: one of the great flanking attempts of the war. The
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  Speaker 1: route from Milliken's Bend to the rear of Vicksburg through
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  Speaker 1: the pass was over seven hundred miles, yet it was
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: only thirty miles direct from Milliken's Ben to Vicksburg the
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: Steals by You Expedition. The last and most extraordinary of
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: Grant's unsuccessful attempts to reach Vicksburg was the Steals by
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: You Expedition, through two hundred miles of narrow twisting by
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: us north of Vicksburg. Like the Yazoo Pass operation, it
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: was an effort to turn the city's right flank. This
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: shorter route had been originally scouted in order to send
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: aid to the Yazoo Pass expedition, when that column seemed
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: in great danger of being cut off and captured. Further
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: exploration suggested the route to the bluffs by way of
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: Steels by You might prove the best of all possible
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: approaches to Vicksburg, and Porter himself commanded the squadron of
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: eleven vessels which entered Steels by You from the Yazoo
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: River on March sixteenth. The route was heavily obstructed by
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: natural hazards, but Porter, warned by apprehensive officers who feared
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: that superstructures would be carried away in crashing through the
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: closely overhung waterways, answered with the declaration, all I need
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: is an engine, guns and a hull to float them.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: Progress was slow through winding streams barely wide enough to
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: admit passage of the gunboats. This time, alert Confederates, aided
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: by treacherous obstructions in the mouth of the rolling Fork,
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: nearly succeeded in shutting up and capturing the entire fleet
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: by felling huge trees across the bayou to block Porter's retreat. Sherman,
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: following behind the fleet with infantry, received word of Porter's danger,
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: and an eerie night march ensued by the flaring light
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: of candles held in the muzzles of their rifles, the
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: Federal soldiers splashed through the cane brake hip deep in water,
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: and arrived in time to drive off the Confederates who
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: had moved in behind the Union fleet. Three days were
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: required to back the fleet to safety on the Mississippi,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: which was reached late in March. Grant had now tested
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: all possible approaches to Vicksburg. As he attempted to swing
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: wide around its flanks to the north and south, every
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: effort had failed. In April, the Union army was no
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: closer to Vicksburg than it had been, and December the
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: southern bastion on the Mississippi had successfully withstood Union land
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: and naval attacks for almost a year. End of Part one,
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: Part two of Vicksburg National Military Park, Mississippi by William C. Everhardt.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: This libribox, according is in the public domain. The Vicksburg Campaign,
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: Grant moves against Vicksburg and succeeds. In the eyes of
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: many in the North, Grant's army had floundered in the
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: swamps for months, with nothing to show for it except
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: a steadily mounting death list from disease. Criticism of the
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: Union commander mounted. I don't know what to make of Grant.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: He's such a quiet little fellow, said Lincoln, thinking of
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: the more flamboyant leaders who had led his eastern armies.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: The only way I know he's around is by the
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: way he makes things get Lincoln had grown increasingly fond
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: of Grant, whose army, while ineffective, had never been inactive. Now,
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: he declared, to Grant's critics, I think will try him
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: a little longer. Although Grant had made every effort to
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: navigate the Bayous and reach Vicksburg, he was later to
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: record that little hope had been entertained that success would
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: greet these ventures while waiting for the dry season, which
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: would permit land operations. However, he had determined to exhaust
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: every possibility and to retain the fighting edge of his
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: army by keeping it constantly on the move. As April
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: arrived and the roads began to emerge from the slowly
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: receding waters, Grant prepared to execute the movement which he
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: had believed from the first to be the logical approach
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: against Vicksburg, marching down the west bank of the Mississippi
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: through Louisiana, crossing the river south of the city, and
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: laying siege to it from the rear porter runs the
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: Vicksburg Batteries. Grant's Vicksburg campaign officially began on March twenty ninth,
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty three, when he ordered mclarnan's Corps to open
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: a road for the army from Milliken's Bend to the
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: river below the city. Considerable work had been done previously,
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: when it was contemplated that a canal from Duckport to
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: the river below Vicksburg might offer passage to the fleet.
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: Falling waters had finally defeated this plan, and during April
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: mclernand's engineers labored to bridge streams, corduroy roads, and build
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: flat boats to cross areas still covered by floodwaters. During
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: that month, also, elements of the Army of the Tennessee
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: accomplished the seventy mile March and assembled at a small
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: hamlet appropriately named hard Times in view of Grant's unpleasant
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: bayou experiences. Here they were across the river from the
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: Confederate stronghold of Grand Gulf, twenty five miles below Vicksburg.
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: To ferry the Union army across the Mississippi, it was
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: necessary for Porter's fleet and anchorage north of Vicksburg to
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: run the batteries and rendezvous with Grant low. While naval
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: craft singly and in groups had on occasion passed these
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: batteries successfully before, it was still a formidable undertaking for
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: which careful preparation was required. As protection against shell fire,
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: each vessel had its port side, which would face the
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: Vicksburg guns in passage, piled high with bales of cotton, hay,
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: and grain coal barges were lashed alongside as an additional defense.
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: Shortly before midnight April sixteen, Confederate pickets and skiffs at
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: the bend of the river above Vicksburg saw the muffled
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: fleet bearing down upon them and quickly gave the alarm.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: Tar barrels along the bank were ignited, and buildings in
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: the small village of DeSoto across the river were set afire.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: The blinding light of a great flare helped illuminate the
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: river and outline the fleet for the Confederate gunners. Tier
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: upon tier of the river batteries thundered down on the
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: Union vessels. In return, these boats delivered their broadsides into
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: the city as they passed, so close that the clatter
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: of bricks from falling buildings could be heard on board.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: Through this a magnificent but terrible spectacle. One of the
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: most fearful pageants of the war. Steamed the fleet in
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: single file. Their heavy shot walked right through us related porter.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: Every one of the twelve boats was hit repeatedly. Many
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: went out of control and revolved slowly with the current.
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: Despite the furious bombardment, only one craft was sunk. Within
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: a few days damages were repaired, and the fleet joined
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: the army at the village of hard Times. Because of
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: the difficulty of supplying the army by wagon train over
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: the wretched road from Milligan's Bend, six transports and twelve
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: barges loaded with supplies ran the batteries a few nights later,
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: with the loss of one transport and six barges. The
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: river crossing, Grant's plan was to make an assault landing
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: at Grand Gulf, a fortified road junction on the bluffs
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: at the mouth of the Big Black River. On April
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: twenty nine, the Union gunboats pounded the Grand Gulf fortifications
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: for six hours, seeking to neutralize the defenses and clear
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: the landing for ten thousand Federal infantry aboard transports just
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: beyond range of the Confederate cannon. The naval attack failed
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: to reduce the Confederate works, and that night Grant marched
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: southward along the Louisiana shore to a landing opposite Bruinsburg.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: There he was met by the fleet, which then slipped
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: down stream under cover of darkness. By noon of the
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: following day, April thirty, Grant was across the Mississippi, experiencing
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: a degree of relief scarcely ever equaled, since I was
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: now in the enemy's country, with a vast river and
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: the stronghold of Vicksburg between me and my base of supplies.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: But I was on dry ground on the same side
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: of the river with the enemy. All the campaigns, labors, hardships,
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: and exposures from the month of December previous to this
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: time that had been made and endured were for the
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: accomplishment of this one object. Grant's landing was unopposed, partly
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: because of two diversionary movements, and partly because of Pemberton's
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: decision to hold his army close to Vicksburg and fight
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: a defensive campaign. Both diversions were completely successful. On April seventeen,
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: the day after Porter's running of the batteries had indicated
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: Grant's strategy of striking from the south, Colonel B. H. Grierson,
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: with a thousand cavalrymen moved out from southwestern Tennessee on
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: one of the celebrated cavalry raids of the war. They
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: rode entirely through the state of Mississippi behind Pemberton's army
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: to a junction with Union forces at Baton Rouge. Louisiana.
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: On sixteen days. Grierson covered six hundred miles, interfering with
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: Confederate telegraph and railroad communications and forcing Pemberton to detect
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: a division of infantry to protect his supply in communication lines. Sherman,
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: whose corps had not yet made the march from Milliken's Bend,
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: made an elaborate feint above Vicksburg. Loading his men aboard
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: every available gunboat, transport, and tug. He landed at Haines
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: Bluff north of Vicksburg, leading Pemberton to expect the real
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: attack from that direction. Both moves helped screen Grant's true objective.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: The events immediately following Grant's landing revealed a basic difference
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: in tactical concepts between Pemberton, commanding the Army of Vicksburg,
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: and General Joseph E. Johnston, his superior, who was in
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: charge of Confederate operations in the West. Johnston believed that
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: to defeat Grant, it would be necessary for Pemberton to
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: unite his whole force in order to smash the Union army,
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: preferably before Grant could consolidate his position on the East Bank. Accordingly,
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: he wired Pemberton on May TWI. If Grant's army crosses,
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: unite all your true troops to beat him. Success will
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: give you back what was abandoned to win it. It
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: was Pemberton's concept that holding Vicksburg was vital to the
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: Confederacy and that he must primarily protect the city and
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: its approaches. To have marched his army to meet Grant
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: would have stripped Vicksburg and its essential flank defenses of
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: their garrisons, and the city itself might have fallen an
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: easy prey into the eager hands of the enemy. This
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: inability of Pemberton and Johnston to reach agreement upon the
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: tactics that might thwart Grant's invasion seriously affected subsequent Confederate
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: operations and prevented effective co operation between the two commanders
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: in the Vicksburg Campaign. The Battle of Port Gibson. Mc
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: claran's corps, immediately upon debarking on April thirty headed for
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: the bluffs, three miles inland. By nightfall, the Federal soldiers
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: had reached the high ground and pushed on toward Port Gibson,
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: thirty miles south of Vicksburg. From this point, roads led
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: to Grand Gulf, Vicksburg, and Jackson. Major General John S.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: Bowen moved his Grand Bluff command toward Port Gibson to
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: intercept the threat, and at daylight on May one, leading
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: elements of the Union advance clashed with Bowen's troops, barring
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: the two roads which led to Port Gibson. The Battle
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: of Port Gibson was a series of furious, day long
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: engagements over thickly wooded ridges, cut by deep precipitous gullies
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: and covered with dense undergrowth. While greatly outnumbering Bowen, mclarnan
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: was prevented by the rugged terrain from bringing his whole
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: force into action. Slowly forced backward, Bowen conducted an orderly
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: retreat through the town, which he evacuated. The holding action
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: had cost Bowen eight hundred casualties from his command of
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: eight thousand. Union losses were about the same from a
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: force at hand of about twenty three thousand. Pemberton determined
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: not to contest Grand go lest he risked being cut
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: off from Vicksburg and withdrew across the Big Black River. Thus,
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: he permitted Grant to occupy grant Gulf and gave him
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: a stronghold on the east bank of the Mississippi the
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: strategy of the Vicksburg campaign. Grant's overall strategy up to
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: the capture of Grand Gulf had been first to secure
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: a base on the river below Vicksburg, and then to
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: cooperate with Major General Nathaniel P. Banks in capturing Port Hudson.
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: After this, he planned to move the combined force against Vicksburg.
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: Port Hudson, a strong point on the Mississippi near Baton Rouge,
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: was garrisoned by Confederate troops after Farragut's withdraw the previous
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: summer at Grand Gulf, Grant learned that Bank's investment of
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: Port Hudson would be delayed for some time to follow
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: his original plan with force postponement of the Vicksburg campaign
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: for at least a month, giving Pemberton invaluable time to
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: organize his defense and receive reinforcements. From this delay, the
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: Union Army could expect the addition of no more than
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: twelve thousand men. Grant now came to one of the
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: most remarkable decisions of his military career. Information had been
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: received that a new Confederate force was being raised at Jackson,
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: forty five miles east of Vicksburg, against the advice of
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: his senior officers, and contrary to orders from Washington, Grant
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: resolved to cut himself off from his base of supply
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: on the river, march quickly in between the two Confederate forces,
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: and defeat each separately before they could join against him. Meanwhile,
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: he would subsist his army from the land through which
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: he marched. The plan was well conceived, for in marching
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: to the northeast toward Edward Station on the railway midway
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: between Jackson and Vicksburg, Grant's vulnerable left flank would be
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: protected by the Big Black River. Moreover, his real objective
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: Vicksburg or Jackson would not be revealed immediately and could
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: be changed to meet events. Upon reaching the railroad. He
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: could also sever Pemberton's communications with Jackson and the East.
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: It was Grant's belief that although the Confederate forces would
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: be greater than his own, this advantage would be offset
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: by their wide dispersal and by the speed and design
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: of his march. But this calculated risk was accompanied by
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: great dangers of which Grant's lieutenants were acutely aware. It
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: meant placing the Union army deep in alien country behind
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: the Confederate army where the line of retreat could be broken,
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: and where the alternative to victory would not only be
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: defeat but complete destruction. The situation was summed up in
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: Sherman's protest, recorded by Grant that I was putting myself
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: in a position voluntarily which an enemy would be glad
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: to maneuver a year or a long time to get me.
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: The action into which Pemberton was drawn by the Union
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: threat indicated the keenness of Grantant's planning. The Confederate general
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: believed that the farther Grant campaigned from the river, the
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: weaker his position would become, and the more exposed his
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: rear and flanks. Accordingly, Pemberton elected to remain on the defensive,
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: keeping his army as a protective shield between Vicksburg and
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: the Union Army and awaiting an opportunity to strike a
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: decisive blow, a policy which permitted Grant to march inland unopposed.
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: With the arrival of Sherman's corps from Milliken's Bend, Grant's
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: preparations were complete, and on May seventh of the Union
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: army marched out from Grand Gulf to the northeast. His
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: widely separated columns moved out on a broad front, concealing
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: their objective. When assembled, Grant's army numbered about forty five
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: thousand during the campaign to oppose him. Pemberton had available
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: about fifty thousand troops, but these were scattered widely to
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: protect important points. On the day of Grant's departure from
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: Grand Gulf, Pemberton's defensive position was further complicated by orders
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: from President Jefferson Davis that both Vicksburg and Port Hudson
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: must be held at all costs. The Union army, however,
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: was already between Vicksburg and Port Hudson, and would soon
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: be between Vicksburg and Jackson. In comparison with campaigns in
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: the more thickly populated Eastern Theater, where a more extensive
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: system of roads and railroads was utilized to provide the
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: tremendous quantities of food and supplies necessary to sustain an army,
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: the campaign of Grant's Western veterans regular great big hells, noorders,
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: same breid as ourselves said a charitable Johnny reb was
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: a new type of warfare. The Union supply train largely
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: consisted of a curious collection of stylish carriages, buggies, and
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: lumbering farm wagons sacked high with ammunition boxes and drawn
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: by whatever mules or horses could be found. Grant began
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: his wilderness campaign in Virginia the following year, requiring over
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: fifty six thousand horses and mules for his five thousand
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: wagons and ambulances, artillery, caissons, and cavalry. Lacking transportation, food
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: supplies were carried in the soldier's knapsack. Beef, poultry, and
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: pork requisitioned from barn and smokehouse enabled the army, which
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: had cut loose from its base, to live for three
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: weeks on five days rations. A noted historian described this campaign,
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: the campaign was based on speed, speed and light rations
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: forage off the country and no baggage. Nothing at the
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: front but men and guns and ammunition, and no rear,
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: no slackening of effort, no respite for the enemy until
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: Vicksburg itself was invested and fell the battles of Raymond
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: and Jackson. When it became likely that Grant might strike
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: the railroad in the vicinity of Edward Station, Pemberton moved
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: from Vicksburg towards that point with his main force, leaving
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: a strong reserve in this city. At the same time,
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: he ordered the units collecting at Jackson to hit Grant's
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: flank and rear if the opportunity presented itself. Major General
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: John A. Logan's division, in advance of McPherson's Union Corps,
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: reached the vicinity of Raymond, across Roads Village, fifteen miles
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: from Jackson on May twelve, and was there engaged by
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: a Confederate brigade under Brigadier General John Gregg. A sharp
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: clash lasting several hours followed Greg's outmanned infantry being driven
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: back toward Jackson. Each side lost about five hundred men
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: during the engagement. Confederate resistance at Raymond indicated to Grant
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: that Jackson might be held more strongly than had been anticipated,
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: and rumors reached the Union commander that strong reinforcements under
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: Johnston were expected there. Grant then determined to make sure
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: of Jackson, and on May thirteen wheeled his entire army
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: toward the east. Johnston arrived by rail in US Jackson
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: on the night of the Raymond engagement in order to
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: take field command of all troops defending Vicksburg, and was
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: notified that Grant's army was between Pemberton's forces and those
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: in Jackson. About twelve thousand troops were at Jackson, against
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: which the entire Union army was reported to be moving.
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: Johnston a telegraphed Richmond, I am too late. In a
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: pouring rain. Sherman and Macpherson approached Jackson on the morning
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: of May fourteenth. Johnston posted the brigades of General greg
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: and Brigadier General W. H. T. Walker on the approaches
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: to the city, with instructions to hold just long enough
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: for valuable stores to be removed from Jackson northward to Canton,
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: where he hoped to combine forces with Pemberton, delaying their
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: attack until the rain which would spoil their powder, slackened.
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: The Union infantry charged the Confederate entrenchments, driving the defenders
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: before them and capturing the city along with thirty five guns,
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: uns and much equipment. Having intercepted a dispatch from Johnston
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: to Pemberton, ordering a junction of all Confederate troops, Grant
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: put his men on the road towards Edward Station at
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: daylight the following morning. His plan was to drive a
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: wedge between the Confederate forces before Johnston, circling to the
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: north could effect a junction with Pemberton. Sherman remained in
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: Jackson to destroy the railroad yards and stores the Battle
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: of Champion's Hill. Events preceding the Battle of Champion's Hill
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: emphasized the opposing tactical views held by the two Confederate commanders.
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: Pemberton believed the retention of Vicksburg so imperative that no
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: move which might endanger the city should be considered. It
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: was Johnston's view that Admiral Porter's successful passage of the
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: batteries and Grant's approach from the rear had already doomed
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: the city and that it was consequently valuable only for
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: the military supplies and troops which it contained. Johnson believed
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: that the South's only chance to prevent loss of the
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: Mississippi was for Pemberton and himself to join forces and
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: fight the great battle, which might smash and destroy Grant's army.
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: On the morning of May fourteenth, Pemberton, at Edward Station
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: received the dispatch from Johnston, a copy of which Grant
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: had already intercepted, informing him of the position of Union
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: troops at Clinton between the two Confederate forces, and ordering him,
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: if practical, come up on his Grant's rear. At once,
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: Pemberton considered the order suicidal. Convinced that Johnston's recent arrival
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: on the field and separation from the main body did
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: not give him sufficient information to survey the situation accurately,
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: Pemberton called a council of war and placed the order
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: before his commanders. Although a majority of his council favored
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: obedience to Johnston's order, Pemberton was unwilling to endorse a
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: movement which might endanger Vicksburg. It was decided to move
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: instead against Grant's supposed communications, which were believed essential to
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: the Union Army's existence, away from the river. On May fifteen,
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: Pemberton marched to the southeast with seventeen thousand men, his
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: route further separating him from Johnston to the north. Grant
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: meanwhile prepared to head westward, his line of march, threatening
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: to pierce the gap between Johnston and Pemberton and beat
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: both of them in the race for Vicksburg. On the
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: morning of the sixteenth, a second order was received from Johnston,
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: ordering Pemberton to move to the north and join Johnston.
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: This order was obeyed, but as Pemberton's troops were counter marching,
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: they were struck by Union troops. The Battle of Champions
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: Hill centered around a crescent shaped ridge of about seventy
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: five feet elevation near the Champion Plantation home, and involved
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: three parallel roads leading from Edward Station to Raymond. Each
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: of Pemberton's three divisions, led by General Bowha, General Loring,
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: and Major General Carter L. Stevenson, covered one of these roads.
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: The battle opened shortly before noon on the sixteenth, when
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: Brigadier General A. P. Hovey's Union Division, supported by Logan's division,
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: attacked along the north road, which passed over the slope
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: of Champions Hill. From the crest of the hill, Stephenson's
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: Confederate division opened a heavy fire on the advancing Union lines,
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: which steadily mounted the ridge, driving the Confederates back and
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: capturing eleven guns. To meet this threat to the Confederate
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: left flank, Bowen's division was shifted to the north to
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: prevent a breakthrough. Reforming his lines, Bowen counter attacked the
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: ridge position. He dislodged the Federal infantry, driving them from
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: the slope, and recaptured all but two of the lost guns. Brandt,
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: in turn, was now compelled to reinforce his hard pressed right,
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: and at three thirty p m massed Union batteries concentrated
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: fire on the ridge. The infantry followed with heavy and
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: repeated attacks along the entire line, and for the third time,
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: the hill changed hands. Pemberton was unable to rally his
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: troops against these attacks, and the divisions of Bowen and
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: Stevenson began to retreat toward Baker's Creek. Loring was detailed
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: to hold the road open for the withdrawal of the
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: Confederate army. Before Loring could rejoin the main body after
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: its crossing of the stream, the Union army secured the crossings.
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: Loring was thus cut off, and he was only able
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: to join Johnston after a long three day march around
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: the Union army. Pemberton retreated toward Vicksburg, and that night
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: took position at Big Black River, twelve miles east of
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: the city. The Battle of Champion's Hill or Baker's Creek
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: was the bloodiest action of the Vicksburg campaign. The numbers
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: actually engaged were relatively equal, although a large Union reserve
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: was close at hand. Pemberton lost nearly fourth thousand men,
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: not counting the entire division of Loring, which was lost
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: to his army. Grant listed casualties of two thousand, five hundred,
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: with Hovey losing one third of his entire division killed
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: and wounded the Battle of Big Black River. Not knowing
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: that Loring's division had been cut off, Pemberton made a
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: stand at the Big Black River in order to hold
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: the bridges open for Loring to join the main force.
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: The Confederate entrenchmen spanned the river at a readily defensible
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: location where the stream made a horseshoe bend across the
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: mile wide neck of the river. The Confederates constructed a
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: line of works, and behind the earthworks, with their backs
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: to the river, were placed four thousand infantry of Bowen's division,
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: supported by artillery. Before dawn on the seventeenth, the Union
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: army pushed on toward Vicksburg. Grant, still hoping to win
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: the race for Vicksburg, had dispatched German's Corps to the
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: north to pass the retreating Confederate army. As Grant engaged
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: it from the front. At an early hour, the Federal
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: troops came in sight of the Confederate line, whereupon they
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: opened an artillery barrage and deployed to assault. Before the
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: deployment was complete, Brigadier General Eugene A. Carr's Division charged
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: with a shout from the woods fronting the Confederate position.
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: Realizing the danger of their position, where they might be
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: cut off from the crossing to their rear, the Confederate
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: troops broke and headed for the bridges in disorder. After
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: the withdrawal, the bridges were burned, effectively halting Union pursuit.
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: In the confusion, Grant captured over a thousand prisoners along
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: with eighteen artillery pieces, while Pemberton's army retreated into the
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: defenses of Vicksburg. Grant's engineers immediately began construction of bridges
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: across the Big Black River, using trees, cotton bales, and
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: lumber from nearby buildings as bridging materials. Sherman's Corps, which
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: had struck the river eleven miles to the non north,
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: attempting to outflank Pemberton and prevent his retreat to Vicksburg
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: through a pontoon bridge across the river at that point
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: by light of pitch torches. The bridges were completed during
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: the night. On the following morning, May eighteen, troops crossed
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: en route to Vicksburg. The campaign ended. The Union Army,
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: now within a few miles of its long sought objective,
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: had in the eighteen days since across the Mississippi completed
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: one of the most noteworthy campaigns of the war. Marching
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: deep into enemy territory, the Army of the Tennessee had
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: successfully lived off the country while fighting and winning five
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: engagements and inflicting critical losses in men and equipment, had
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: prevented Johnston and Pemberton from joining forces, and had driven
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: the Army of Vicksburg into the defenses of the city
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: by noon of May eighteen. With Grant's advance expected momentarily,
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: Pemberton believed the defenses of Vicksburg strong enough to set
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: stand off the Union Army until Johnston received sufficient reinforcements
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: to raise the expected siege and prevent loss of the
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: Mississippi River. There. While inspecting his defenses, Pemberton received a
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: dispatch from Johnston advising the evacuation of Vicksburg, which Johnston
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: felt was already doomed. Military necessity demanded that instead of
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: losing both troops and place, we must, if possible, save
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: the troops. If it is not too late, evacuate Vicksburg
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: and its dependencies, and march to the northeast. Unwilling to
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: yield the city without a fight, Pemberton placed the order
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: before his senior officers. They were of unanimous opinion that
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: it would be impossible to withdraw the army from this
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: position with such morale as to be of further service
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: to the Confederacy. As the Council of War reached its
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: decision to remain in fight, Union guns opened on the works.
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: The Siege of Vicksburg had begun of Part two, Part
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: three of Vicksburg National Military Park, Mississippi by William C. Everhardt.
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: This Livervox recording is in the public domain. The Siege
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: of Vicksburg the Confederate defense Line from his assumption of
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: command seven months before, Pemberton had put his engineers to
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: work constructing a fortified line which would protect Vicksburg against
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: an attack from the rear. A strong line of works
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: had been thrown up along the crest of a ridge
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: which was fronted by a deep ravine. The defense line
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: began on the river two miles above Vicksburg and curved
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: for nine miles along the ridge to the river below.
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: Thus enclosing the city within its arc. So long as
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: this line could be held, the river batteries denied to
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: the north control of the Mississippi River at salient and
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: commanding points along the line, artillery positions and forts, lunettes, redans,
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: and redoubts had been constructed. The earth walls of the
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: forts were up to twenty feet thick. In front of
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: these was dug a deep, wide ditch, so that assaulting
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: troops which climbed the steep ridge slope and reached the
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: ditch would still have a high vertical wall to climb
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: in order to gain entrance into the fort. Between the
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: strong points, which were located every few hundred yards, was
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: constructed a line of rifle pits and entrenchments, for the
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: most part, protected by parapets and ditches. Where spurs jutted
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: out from the main ridge, advanced batteries were constructed, which
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: provided a deadly crossfire against attacking lines. The Confederates had
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: mounted one hundred and twenty eight artillery pieces in these works,
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: of which thirty six were heavy siege guns. The remainder
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: field pieces. Greatly strengthening the Confederate position was the irregular
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: topography which resulted from the peculiar characteristics of the region's
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: loss soil, possessing an unusual tenacity except when eroded by
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: the action of running water. The list had over the
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: centuries been cut into deep gullies and ravines with abrupt
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: faces separated by narrow, twisting ridges. This resulted in a
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: broken and complicated terrain which would seriously obstruct the Union movement.
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: To permit a clear field of fire and to hinder
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: advancing troops, all the trees fronting the Confederate lines were
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: cut down. Several hundred yards away from the Confederate position
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: and roughly parallel to it, was a ridge system not
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: so continuous and more broken than that occupied by Pemberton's army.
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: Along this line, the Union army took position and began
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: its siege operations on the scattered natural bridges of high
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: ground which spanned the ravines and provided approaches to Vicissburg.
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: Were located the six roads and one railroad leading into
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: that city. Nine forts had been constructed overlooking each of
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: these routes into Vicksburg, their guns completely commanding the approaches.
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: Fort Hill on the river north of the city, Stockade, Redden,
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: Third Louisiana Redden Great Redoubt, Second Texas Lunette Railroad Redoubt,
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: Fort Garrett also known as Square Fort, Salient Works, and
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: South Fort on the river below Vicksburg. All but two
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: of these works are well preserved today. The Confederate divisions
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: left to right were commanded by Major General M. L. Smith,
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: General Bowen, Major General John H. Forney, and General Stevenson.
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: The army of Vicksburg at the beginning of the siege
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: numbered about thirty one thousand men, of which Pemberton listed
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: eighteen thousand, five hundred effectives as available to man his day.
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: De fence Line. Grant gave his strength shortly after the
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: siege began as fifty thousand effectives. His army was steadily
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: enlarged during the siege by reinforcements from Memphis the assault
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: of May nineteen. By midday of May nineteen, Grant had
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: completed his investment of the city. In the north, Sherman's
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: Corps was in position opposite the Confederate left from the
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: river at the present location of the National Cemetery to
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: the Graveyard Road, at an average distance of about five
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: hundred yards. Macpherson's Corps took position on Sherman's left from
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: the Graveyard Road to near the bald One's Ferry Road.
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: The front of mclarenan's corps extended from the bald One's
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: Ferry Road southward. Considerable skirmishing had preceded the Union approach,
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: as the Confederate pickets fell slowly back inside the defenses,
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: thus preventing a close inspection of the Confederate fortifications. Grant determined, however,
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: to attack immediately before Pemberton had time to post his
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: defenses strongly. The Union general ordered an assault at two
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: p m. On the nineteenth. Sherman's troops, whose early arrival
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: had enabled them better to prepare for attack, moved under
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: heavy fire against the Confederate left. Although they succeeded in
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: making a close lodgment against the walls of the Stockade ridain,
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: they failed to breach the works and were repulsed. Macpherson
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: and mclernan, not yet in good position for attack, were
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: unable to do more than advance several hundred yards closer
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: to the siege line. Grant lost one thousand men at
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: testing the Vicksburg defenses and discovered an unyielding army manning
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: the works. Confederate losses were slight, the assault of May
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: twenty second, while the probing operation of the nineteenth had failed,
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: Grant further considered the important results which a successful assault
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: would achieve. Such a move, however costly, would save a
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: long siege. In the end, fewer men might be lost,
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: and a growing threat to the Union rear General Johnston
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: raising troops near Jackson for the relief of Vicksburg, could
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: be eliminated by quickly capturing Vicksburg and throwing the entire
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: Union strength against Johnston. In addition, the Federal troops, spirited
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: by recent victories and impatient to seize the prize for
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: which they had campaigned so long, would not work so
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: zealously in the trenches with pick and shovel. Unless assault
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: had failed, on the twenty first, Grant issued orders for
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: a general assault against Vicksburg the following day. The Union
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: assault of May twenty two was delivered against the center
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: of the Confederate siege line along a three mile front
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: from Stockade Redan to Fort Garrett. The felt trees and
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: thick undergrowth, as well as the precipitous faces of the ravines,
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: restricted the scope of Union maneuver. Only a portion of
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: Grant's full strength could be brought into action, reserves being
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: posted to exploit a breakthrough. Careful preparations preceded the attack.
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: Field batteries were run forward and emplaced to provide a
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: covering fire for the infantry, and troops were advanced into
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: concealed positions in places within two hundred yards of their objective.
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: Watches of all Union commanders were synchronized the attack to
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: begin simultaneously at ten a m in order to prevent
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: Pemberton from shifting his forces from one threatened point to another.
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: Of the six forts in the area of the grand assault,
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: the Stockadradan under attack by Major General Frank Blair's division
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: of Sherman's Corps, exemplified the day's action in method and result.
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: Blair's men were faced with two formidable obstacles. The fort
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: could be reached only by way of the Graveyard Road
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: because of the deep ravines bordering the road, and the
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: road was completely covered by the guns of the fort.
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: In front of the fort was a deep ditch, which
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: protected it from attempts to climb the wall and enter
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: the works. The night before, Sherman had decided that a
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: bridge would be needed by his men to span the ditch,
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: only one source of lumber could be found, a frame
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: house in which General Grant was sleeping. Informed of the need,
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: Grant dressed and watched the house quickly torn down for
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: bridging materials. At the stroke of ten, the artillery bombardment
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: of the fort ceased, and the forlorn hope. A volunteer
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: company of one hundred and fifty men raced from their
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: position over the graveyard road toward the stockade, ratan carrying
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: the planks to bridge the ditch for the regiments to follow.
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: Until the federal troops almost reached the Confederate line, there
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: was no sign of its defenders. Then the su other
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: soldiers rose from their reclining position behind the works and
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: gave them such a terrible volley of musketry that the
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: road soon was nearly obstructed by the bodies of the
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: killed and wounded. The very sticks and chips scattered over
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 1: the ground, jumping under the hot shower of rebel bullets.
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: Although two color bearers climbed the wall of the fort
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 1: and planted their flags near the crest, the remnants of
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: regiments which reached the ditch were unable to storm the
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: walls and enter their radan attempting to prevent the fort
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: garrison from firing down into the ditch. The Federal infantry
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: swept the top of the wall with rifle fire. The
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: toll was costly among the Confederate defenders, who fought back,
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: using artillery shells as hand grenades and rolling them down
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: among the Union troops in the ditch. After four hours
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: of fighting, the attack was stalemated at Stockade Redan. Union
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: flags were placed also on the walls of the Great
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 1: Redoubt and Second Texas Lunette, but it was at the
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: Railroad Redoubt that a momentary breach was made in the
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: Confederate defenses. Here mclernan's men reached the fort in force,
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 1: and Sergeant Joseph E. Griffith and several comrades of the
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 1: twenty second Iowa crawled through a gap in the wall
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: which had been plasted by Union artillery and entered the
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: outer works. All were shot down, but Griffith he was
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 1: able to back out through the opening, bringing a dozen
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: prisoners with him. When the Union assault threatened to engulf
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: the fort, there was a call for Confederate volunteers to
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: regain the lost ground. A volunteer company from the Texas
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: Legion counter attacked and drove the Union troops from the
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: outer defenses. Encouraged by his partial success, mclarnan asked Grant
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: for reinforcements and a renewal of the attack, which he
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: felt would enable his men to break the Confederate line.
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: Grant ordered Chairman and macpherson to commit their reserves and
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: create a diversion in mclernan's favor. The renewed assault was
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: shattered by the resolute Confederate defense. It served only to
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: increase Union losses and to intensify an already bitter controversy
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: over mclernan's military ability, which eventually resulted in his removal
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 1: from command and the appointment of Major General Edward Ord
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: to head the thirteenth Corps. More than three thousand Union
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: soldiers lay dead or wounded in the ditches and on
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 1: the slopes of the ridge. It was the last assault
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: against Vicksburg Union siege operations to bring the Union army
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 1: close against the Confederate defense line. Construction of protected approaches
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: was begun. As the siege progressed, SAPs or approached trenches
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: deep enough to conceal troops zigzagged their way toward the
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: works protecting Vicksburg. Ten major approaches were carried forward by
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: pick and shovel, details, each with a network of parallels,
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: bomb proofs and artillery emplacements. Over sixty thousand feet of
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 1: trenches and eighty nine artillery positions mounting two hundred and
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 1: twenty guns were completed in the Siege of Vicksburg. Spades
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: were trumps. A Federal infantryman was later to recall that
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: every man in the investing line became an army engineer.
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: Day and night. This soldiers worked at digging narrow zigzag
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: approaches to the rebel works. Entrenchments, rifle pits and dirt
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: caves were made in every conceivable direction. When entrenchments were
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: safe and finished, still, others, yet farther in advance, were made,
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: as if by magic, in a single night. Other zigzag
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: underground SAPs and mines were made for explosions under forts.
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 1: Every day the regiment's foot by foot, yard by yard
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: approached nearer, thus strongly armed rebel works. The soldiers got
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: so they bored like gophers and beavers, with a spade
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 1: in one hand and a gun in the other. With
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 1: an almost limitless ammunition supply, Federal sharpshooters and artillerymen kept
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 1: up a relentless fire, giving the Confederates little opportunity to
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: pick off the work parties, which continued digging operations during
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: the day. Pemberton's ammunition supply dwindled each day. Considering the
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 1: possible duration of the siege until an effective relief army
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 1: might be assembled, the Confederate commander considered it a matter
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: of vital importance that every charge of ammunition on hand
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: should be hoarded with the most jealous care. He therefore
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 1: issued strict orders that both rifle and cannon should be
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: fired only when absolutely necessary. This prevented the Confederates from
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 1: keeping up the steady, harrassing fire needed to hold and
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: check the Union siege activities. Trench life for Grant soldiers
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 1: was not so rigorous or dangerous as for the Vicksburg defenders.
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: Food supplies were ample, although lack of pure water was
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 1: a problem for both armies and resulted in considerable disease.
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 1: The burning sun and frequent rains made life miserable for
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: both Yank and reb particularly as a result of the
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 1: low ammunition stores of the Vicksburg Army. Union losses during
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: the siege. After the assaults of May nineteen and twenty
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: two were comparatively light. After the unsuccessful assault of May
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 1: twenty two, only two attempts were made to break through
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 1: the Confederate defenses, neither of which succeeded. Sherman, holding the
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 1: Union right opposite the strong Fort Hill position, determined to
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 1: reduce the fort with naval aid, and on May twenty seven,
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 1: the gunboat Cincinnati, protected by logs and bales of hay,
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 1: moved into position and engaged the several batteries of that sector.
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 1: Subjected to a deadly plunging fire which went entirely through
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 1: our protection a wood and iron, the Cincinnati went down
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: with her collars nailed to the stump of a mast.
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: The other attempt to pierce the defense line was by
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: exploding a mine under the third Louisiana Redan. Logan's approach
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 1: trench had reached the fort walls, and from there a
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: shaft was sunk under the fort and a powder charge
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 1: prepared for its demolition. The Confederate garrison, hearing the miner's
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 1: fix at work beneath the fort, began counter mines in
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 1: a grim race for survival. On June twenty five, as
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: the entire Union line opened fire to prevent shifting of reinforcements.
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 1: A charge of twenty two hundred pounds of powder was
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 1: exploded beneath the third Louisiana Redan, creating a large crater
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 1: into which elements of the twenty third Indiana and the
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: forty fifth Illinois raced from the approached trench. Anticipating this result,
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 1: General Forney had prepared a second line of works in
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 1: the rear of the fort, where survivors of the blast
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 1: and supporting regiments met the Union attack and drove it back.
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: Still other mines were also being prepared by Union engineers
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 1: at the time of the surrender. Confederate trench life siege
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 1: life for the Confederate soldier was a hazardous ordeal. Nearly
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 1: thirty five hundred were killed or wounded. Because of the
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: limited number of effective troops available to Pemberton, almost the
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 1: entire Vicksburg Army had to be placed in the trenches.
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: Sufficient numbers were not available to rotate frontline duty, as
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: was done by the Federal Army. Never knowing when an
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: attempt might be made to assault the defense line, it
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 1: was necessary for them to be on guard at all times,
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 1: enduring sun rained mud, poor and inadequate food, as well
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 1: as the bullets and shells of the U. S. Union
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 1: Army for forty seven days and nights. The unending barrage
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 1: of small arms and artillery fire, one confederate exclaimed, can
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: be compared to men clearing land. The report of musketry
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: is like the chopping of axes, and that of the
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 1: cannon like the felling of trees. Rations were generally prepared
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 1: by details of soldiers behind the lines and carried to
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: the troops at the breastworks. Coffee. The soldier's staple was
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 1: soon unobtainable, and an urzat's beverage introduced the somewhat questionable ingredients,
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 1: of which included sweet potatoes, BlackBerry leaves, and sassafras. To
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: replace the exhausted flour supply, a substitute was devised from
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 1: ground peas and cornmeal. When this was baked over a fire,
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 1: one soldier complained it made a nauseous composition, as the
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 1: cornmeal cooked in half the time the pea's meal did,
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 1: so this stuff was half raw. It had the properties
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 1: of India rubber amazon worse than leather to digest. Its
• 1:09:02
  Speaker 1: effect on the digestive systems of the Confederate troops was
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 1: possibly the equivalent of a secret Yankee weapon. A more famous,
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: although not necessarily a more palatable item of the besieged
• 1:09:15
  Speaker 1: soldier's diet was the mule meet. Introduced late in the siege.
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 1: General Pemberton heartily approved of its appearance, observing that mule
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 1: proved not only nutritious, but very palatable in every way,
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 1: preferable to poor beef. For protection against artillery fire, the
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 1: Confederate troops dug bomb proofs in the reverse slope of
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 1: their fortified ridge. From these dugouts bowworked by heavy timbers
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 1: trenches connected with the fortifications, affording the besieged some degree
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 1: of relaxation in reading or playing cards. A few yards
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 1: from the front line. To defend against surprise night attacks,
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 1: they were forced to sleep on their arms in the trenches.
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 1: At night. The uns ending bombardment from Porter's fleet provided
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 1: the troops of both armies with an awesome pyrotechnic display,
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 1: especially popular with the Pickets, with a giant thirteen inch
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: mortar shells, whose sputtering fuses described a tremendously high arc
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 1: in the blackness before disappearing into the city. It was
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 1: a wonderful spectacle. One soldier remembered to see the fuse
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 1: from the shells, and you could see them plainly the
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 1: Commeter's starlight, streams of fire, and then hear them coming
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 1: down into the doomed city. We used to watch them
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 1: while on picket at night. Only when the Union trenches
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 1: approached close to the defensive works were determined efforts made
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 1: to halt the Union threat. Then the Union sap rollers,
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 1: woven cane cylinders filled with earth or cotton rolled in
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 1: front of the open end of the trench to protect
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 1: the work party became targets for destruction. Fuses were set
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 1: on artillery shells, which were then rolled down against the
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 1: sap rollers, or they were ignited by mini balls dipped
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 1: in turpentine. Occasional knight salies succeeded temporarily in driving off
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 1: Union work parties and filling up trenches, but no daylight
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 1: forays were attempted by the Confederates. Civilian life in Vicksburg
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 1: during the siege. For the civilian population of Vicksburg, the
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 1: siege was a grim and harrowing experience. Ordered to evacuate
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 1: the city or prepare to face siege, many of the
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 1: townspeople preferred to remain and share the fate of the army.
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 1: They were joined by refugees accompanying the Confederate retreat into
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: the city. Vicksburg had been subjected to periodic naval bombardment
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 1: during the year of preliminary action and continuously during the siege.
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 1: For relief and protection against shell fire, many of the
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 1: townspeople occupied caves dug into the city's plentiful hillsides. To
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 1: the civilia, as to the Confederate soldiers, there seemed only
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 1: three intervals during the day when the shelling ceased, eight
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 1: a m. Noon and eight p m. When the Union
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 1: artillerymen ate their meals. However, much of the accustomed social
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 1: life of the town continued. Men and women passed along
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 1: the streets despite frequent shell explosions, and the town's newspaper
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 1: continued to appear, finally printed on wallpaper. Despite the artillery fire,
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 1: few civilians were killed, although many dwellings were destroyed or
• 1:12:32
  Speaker 1: badly damaged. Over more and more buildings. As the siege progressed,
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 1: the yellow hospital flags floated. Thousands of Confederates sick and
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 1: wounded were brought into the city, many being cared for
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 1: by the women of Vicksburg. In the latter stages of
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 1: the siege, the food stores of the city were badly depleted,
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 1: placing the people of Vicksburg on extremely short rations. Fraternization.
• 1:13:00
  Speaker 1: Unique feature of the American Civil War was the inclination
• 1:13:04
  Speaker 1: of the private soldier, Union and Confederate to fight with
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 1: unrelenting ferocity during the engagements of the war, and yet
• 1:13:12
  Speaker 1: to engage in friendly intercourse with each other once the
• 1:13:15
  Speaker 1: battle had ended, or even during the lulls in the fighting.
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 1: Swapping of Northern coffee for Southern tobacco was a commonplace
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 1: picket activity in all theaters of the war. In the long,
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 1: weary siege of Vicksburg, the monotony was often lightened by
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 1: jeers and pleasantries exchanged between lines. Many examples of soldier
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 1: humor were recorded. The Confederates, taking grim delight in their
• 1:13:41
  Speaker 1: ability to withstand the onslaughts of a steadily increasing Federal army,
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 1: would shout when you're going to come in Vicksburg for
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: a visit, to which a grimy, sweating Federal private would
• 1:13:52
  Speaker 1: yell not till you show better manners to strangers. To
• 1:13:56
  Speaker 1: prevent surprise attacks, both armies posted pickets in a dants
• 1:14:00
  Speaker 1: of their lines at night. With the lines so close
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 1: in the latter stages of the siege, pickets would often
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 1: stand within a few feet of one another, or even
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 1: side by side. Discussions of good shots and a bad
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 1: officers or vice versa helped to pass the long night
• 1:14:17
  Speaker 1: watches by common agreement. Out of respect for the exposed
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 1: and unprotected position of the sentinels, there was no firing
• 1:14:25
  Speaker 1: at men on picket duty. One Union veteran best remembered
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 1: the Siege of Vicksburg for the nightly verbal exchanges with
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 1: the revs. When we used to talk to each other
• 1:14:35
  Speaker 1: after fighting all day in the evening, when everything had
• 1:14:39
  Speaker 1: stopped for the day, some of our men, or some
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 1: of the Johnnies would yell, hello Johnny, or hello Yank.
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 1: How did you enjoy the day? The other would say fine.
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 1: Then someone would say Johnny, how do you like meal meat?
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 1: And they answer fine? Then how do you like beef
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 1: dried on the bone, to which they would reply not
• 1:14:58
  Speaker 1: so well, it is too close to the to be good.
• 1:15:01
  Speaker 1: Then someone would say, come over and we will give
• 1:15:03
  Speaker 1: you some soal belly to fry it in. They would reply,
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 1: we can't eat meat alone. Then the reply was, we
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 1: will give you some hard tack. Then they would reply,
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 1: the tack you sent over today was so hard we
• 1:15:15
  Speaker 1: could not do it. So you see how soon those
• 1:15:17
  Speaker 1: on both sides forgot their troubles when night came. But
• 1:15:21
  Speaker 1: in the morning, about daylight, when the business of the
• 1:15:23
  Speaker 1: day was about to open, we would say, watch out,
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 1: john inn an't yo ho, And the things were on
• 1:15:29
  Speaker 1: in earnest for the day. Johnston's Davelemma Pemberton's foremost objective
• 1:15:34
  Speaker 1: in prolonging the siege had been to afford Johnston and
• 1:15:37
  Speaker 1: the Confederate government time to collect sufficient troops to raise
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 1: the siege. But shortly after Grant had invested the city,
• 1:15:45
  Speaker 1: General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia began its
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 1: invasion of the North, which ended on the field of Gettysburg.
• 1:15:53
  Speaker 1: No troops could be spared from that point. To have
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 1: removed troops from Lieutenant General Braxton Bragg's Army and Tennessee
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 1: would have dangerously weakened that place. In a desperate attempt
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 1: to save the Mississippi, Johnston wired Secretary of War James A. Seddon,
• 1:16:10
  Speaker 1: we cannot hold both. During June, General Johnston had succeeded
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: in increasing his force to about thirty thousand, many of
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 1: whom were Green troops, but efforts to secure adequate weapons, ammunition,
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 1: and wagons to equip the regiments had been only partly successful.
• 1:16:29
  Speaker 1: Preparing to encounter an expected move by Johnston against his rear,
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 1: Grant used reinforcements arriving from Memphis to construct and man
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 1: a strong outer defense line facing Johnston's line of advance.
• 1:16:43
  Speaker 1: Grant then had two lines of works, one to hold
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 1: Pemberton in and the other to hold Johnston out. While
• 1:16:50
  Speaker 1: Seddon notified Johnston, rely upon it. The eyes and hopes
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 1: of the whole Confederacy are upon you, with the full
• 1:16:57
  Speaker 1: competence that you will lackt and with the sentiment that
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 1: it is better to fail nobly daring than through prudence
• 1:17:04
  Speaker 1: even to be an active Johnston notified his government on
• 1:17:09
  Speaker 1: June fifteenth, I consider saving Vicksburg hopeless. On July one,
• 1:17:15
  Speaker 1: Johnston moved his army of four infantry and one cavalry
• 1:17:18
  Speaker 1: divisions to the east bank of the Big Black River,
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 1: seeking a vulnerable place to attack Grant's outer defenses. His
• 1:17:26
  Speaker 1: reconnaissance during the next three days convinced him that no
• 1:17:30
  Speaker 1: move against the Federal position was practicable. Receiving word of
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 1: the surrender on July fourth, he withdrew to Jackson the
• 1:17:39
  Speaker 1: surrender of Vicksburg. By July, the Army of Vicksburg had
• 1:17:43
  Speaker 1: held the line for six weeks, but its unyielding defense
• 1:17:47
  Speaker 1: had been a costly one. Pemberton reported ten thousand of
• 1:17:50
  Speaker 1: his men so debilitated by wounds and sickness as to
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 1: be no longer able to man the works, and the
• 1:17:57
  Speaker 1: list of ineffectives swelled daily from the twin afflictions of
• 1:18:02
  Speaker 1: insufficient rations and the searching fire of Union sharpshooters. Each day,
• 1:18:08
  Speaker 1: the constricting Union line pushed closer against the Vicksburg defenses,
• 1:18:12
  Speaker 1: and there were indications that Grant might soon launch another
• 1:18:16
  Speaker 1: great assault, which, even if repulsed, must certainly result in
• 1:18:20
  Speaker 1: a severe toll of the garrison. Grant had actually ordered
• 1:18:24
  Speaker 1: a general assault for July sixth, two days after the surrender.
• 1:18:29
  Speaker 1: General Pemberton, faced with dwindling stores and no help from
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 1: the outside, saw only two eventualities, either to evacuate the
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 1: city and cut my way out, or to capitulate upon
• 1:18:41
  Speaker 1: the best attainable terms. Contemplating the former possibility. He asked
• 1:18:46
  Speaker 1: his division commanders on July one to report whether the
• 1:18:49
  Speaker 1: physical condition of the troops would favor such a hazardous stroke.
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: His lieutenants were unanimous in their replies that siege conditions
• 1:18:58
  Speaker 1: had physically distressed so large a number of the defending
• 1:19:02
  Speaker 1: army that an attempt to cut through the Union lines
• 1:19:05
  Speaker 1: would be disastrous. Pemberton's only alternative then was surrender, although
• 1:19:11
  Speaker 1: not requested. Pemberton also received the verdict of his army
• 1:19:15
  Speaker 1: in a message from an unknown private signed many soldiers.
• 1:19:19
  Speaker 1: Taking pride in the gallant conduct of his fellow soldiers
• 1:19:23
  Speaker 1: in repulsing the enemy at every assault and bearing with
• 1:19:26
  Speaker 1: patient endurance all the privations and hardships, the writer requested
• 1:19:30
  Speaker 1: his commanding general if he could just think of one
• 1:19:33
  Speaker 1: small biscuit and one or two mouthfuls of bacon per day,
• 1:19:36
  Speaker 1: concluding with the irrefutable logic of an enlisted man. If
• 1:19:40
  Speaker 1: he can't feed us, you'd better surrender us. Horrible as
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: the idea is. On July three, white truce flags appeared
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 1: along the center of the Confederate works. A few hours later,
• 1:19:52
  Speaker 1: Grant and Pemberton met beneath an oak tree on a
• 1:19:55
  Speaker 1: slope between the lines to arrange for the capitulation of
• 1:19:59
  Speaker 1: Vicksburg and its army of twenty nine thousand, five hundred.
• 1:20:03
  Speaker 1: It had been fourteen months since Farragut's warships had first
• 1:20:07
  Speaker 1: engaged the Vicksburg batteries, seven months since Grant's first expedition
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 1: against the city, and forty seven days since the beginning
• 1:20:15
  Speaker 1: of the siege. On the morning of July fourth, eighteen
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 1: sixty three, while northern cities celebrated Independence Day, Vicksburg was
• 1:20:23
  Speaker 1: formally surrendered. The Confederate troops marched out from their defenses
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 1: and stacked their rifles, cartridge boxes, and flags before a
• 1:20:32
  Speaker 1: hushed Union army, which witnessed the historic event without cheering.
• 1:20:37
  Speaker 1: A testimonial of their respect for the courageous defenders of Vicksburg,
• 1:20:41
  Speaker 1: whose line was never broken into the city, which had
• 1:20:45
  Speaker 1: defied him for so long, and which nearly proved the
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 1: graveyard rather than the springboard of his military career, rode
• 1:20:53
  Speaker 1: General Grant at the courthouse, where the stars and bars
• 1:20:57
  Speaker 1: had floated inside of the Union army and nabs throughout
• 1:21:01
  Speaker 1: the siege. He watched the national callers raised on the flagstaff,
• 1:21:05
  Speaker 1: and then proceeded to the waterfront, with every vessel of
• 1:21:08
  Speaker 1: the navy sounding its whistle in celebration. He went aboard
• 1:21:12
  Speaker 1: Porter's flagship to express gratitude for the work of the fleet.
• 1:21:17
  Speaker 1: The significance of the fall of Vicksburg. Vicksburg and the
• 1:21:21
  Speaker 1: simultaneous repulse of Lee's invasion at the Battle of Gettysburg
• 1:21:26
  Speaker 1: marked the beginning of the end for the Confederacy. Previously,
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 1: there had been confidence that victory, although demanding desperate measures,
• 1:21:34
  Speaker 1: could yet be achieved. Afterward, there was only the hope
• 1:21:38
  Speaker 1: that the North might sicken of the frightful cost of
• 1:21:42
  Speaker 1: continuing the war and terminate hostilities. The great objective of
• 1:21:47
  Speaker 1: the war in the West, the opening of the Mississippi
• 1:21:49
  Speaker 1: River and the severing of the Confederacy, had been realized
• 1:21:53
  Speaker 1: with the fall of Vicksburg, while in the East the
• 1:21:56
  Speaker 1: Union armies battled on in bloody stalemate before Richmond. The
• 1:22:00
  Speaker 1: armies of the West would now launch their columns deep
• 1:22:03
  Speaker 1: into the vitals of the Confederacy. Grant emerged from the
• 1:22:07
  Speaker 1: Vicksburg campaign with a hard won reputation as a master strategist,
• 1:22:13
  Speaker 1: which prompted President Lincoln to place him in supreme command
• 1:22:17
  Speaker 1: of all the armies of the United States. From this position,
• 1:22:20
  Speaker 1: he was destined to direct the final campaigns of the
• 1:22:23
  Speaker 1: Civil War and to receive Lee's surrender at Appomattox. As
• 1:22:28
  Speaker 1: for Pemberton, the fall of Vicksburg subjected him to painful
• 1:22:31
  Speaker 1: criticism from those who held that a more resourceful defense
• 1:22:35
  Speaker 1: might have saved the city, or his army, or both. Essentially,
• 1:22:40
  Speaker 1: both commanders had disobeyed orders in like manner, Grant in
• 1:22:44
  Speaker 1: striking behind Vicksburg alone rather than waiting to combine forces
• 1:22:49
  Speaker 1: with Banks, Pemberton in deciding to protect Vicksburg at all
• 1:22:53
  Speaker 1: costs rather than joining Johnston and risking loss of the city.
• 1:22:57
  Speaker 1: But Grant's gamble had succeeded and Pemberton's had failed, And
• 1:23:02
  Speaker 1: in war, as a leading Confederate commander had soberly remarked,
• 1:23:06
  Speaker 1: the people measure a general's merit by his success. I thought,
• 1:23:10
  Speaker 1: and still think, that you did right to risk an
• 1:23:13
  Speaker 1: army for the purpose of keeping command of even a
• 1:23:16
  Speaker 1: section of the Mississippi River. President Davis wrote to General
• 1:23:20
  Speaker 1: Pemberton after the fall of Vicksburg. Had you succeeded, none
• 1:23:24
  Speaker 1: would have blamed Had you not made the attempt, few,
• 1:23:28
  Speaker 1: if any, would have defended your course. In the Confederate capital,
• 1:23:32
  Speaker 1: General Josiah Gorges, one of the most able of Southern leaders,
• 1:23:37
  Speaker 1: confided to his diary the implications of the calamitous change
• 1:23:41
  Speaker 1: in fortune to the South. Attending the twin disasters of
• 1:23:45
  Speaker 1: Gettysburg and Vicksburg. Events have succeeded one another with disastrous rapidity.
• 1:23:51
  Speaker 1: One brief month ago we were apparently at the point
• 1:23:53
  Speaker 1: of success. Lee was in Pennsylvania, threatening Harrisburg and even Philadelphia.
• 1:23:59
  Speaker 1: Vicksburg seemed to laugh at Grant's efforts to scorn All
• 1:24:02
  Speaker 1: looked bright. Now the picture is just as somber as
• 1:24:06
  Speaker 1: it was bright. Then Lee failed at Gettysburg, Vicksburg, and
• 1:24:11
  Speaker 1: Port Hudson capitulated, surrendering thirty five thousand men and forty
• 1:24:15
  Speaker 1: five thousand arms. It seems incredible that human power could
• 1:24:20
  Speaker 1: effect such a change in so brief a space. Yesterday
• 1:24:23
  Speaker 1: we wrote on the pinnacle of success. Today absolute ruin
• 1:24:27
  Speaker 1: seems to be our portion. The Confederacy taughtters to its destruction.
• 1:24:33
  Speaker 1: In Washington, a grateful president sat at his desk seeking
• 1:24:37
  Speaker 1: words to express appreciation to Grant for the almost inestimable
• 1:24:41
  Speaker 1: service you have done the country explaining the fear he
• 1:24:45
  Speaker 1: had entertained that the Union Army might be destroyed during
• 1:24:48
  Speaker 1: its daring thrust in the rear of Vicksburg, which he
• 1:24:51
  Speaker 1: believed at the time to be a mistake. Lincoln wrote
• 1:24:54
  Speaker 1: to Grant, I wish now to make the personal acknowledgment
• 1:24:58
  Speaker 1: that you were right, and I was. On July ninth,
• 1:25:02
  Speaker 1: the Confederate commander at Port Hudson, upon learning of the
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 1: fall of Vicksburg, surrendered his garrison of six thousand men.
• 1:25:10
  Speaker 1: One week later, the merchant steamboat Imperial tied up at
• 1:25:14
  Speaker 1: the wharf at New Orleans, completing the thousand mile passage
• 1:25:18
  Speaker 1: from Saint Louis undisturbed by hostile guns. After two years
• 1:25:23
  Speaker 1: of land and naval warfare, the Mississippi River was opened.
• 1:25:26
  Speaker 1: The grip of the South had been broken, and merchant
• 1:25:29
  Speaker 1: and military traffic had now a safe avenue to the Gulf.
• 1:25:33
  Speaker 1: In the words of Lincoln, the Father of Waters again
• 1:25:37
  Speaker 1: goes unvexed to the sea and Part three, Part four
• 1:25:48
  Speaker 1: of Vicksburg National Military Park, Mississippi by William C. Everhart.
• 1:25:53
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Guide to
• 1:25:57
  Speaker 1: the area Vicksburg National Military Park is shaped like a
• 1:26:02
  Speaker 1: great crescent, enclosing the city of Vicksburg within a nine
• 1:26:05
  Speaker 1: mile arc which perves from the old bed of the
• 1:26:08
  Speaker 1: Mississippi River north of the city to the river south
• 1:26:12
  Speaker 1: of Vicksburg, from US sixty one north of Vicksburg, across
• 1:26:16
  Speaker 1: US eighty east of the city to US sixty one
• 1:26:20
  Speaker 1: south of Vicksburg. The two main avenues in Vicksburg National
• 1:26:24
  Speaker 1: Military Park, Union Avenue and Confederate Avenue, constructed along the
• 1:26:29
  Speaker 1: siege lines established by the two armies, are paralleled. The
• 1:26:33
  Speaker 1: black markers on iron standards indicate the position of the
• 1:26:36
  Speaker 1: fortified lines and the units which occupied that sector. The
• 1:26:41
  Speaker 1: remains of artillery batteries, forts, and the ditches in front
• 1:26:46
  Speaker 1: and trenches are clearly visible, although during the thirty six
• 1:26:50
  Speaker 1: year interval between the siege and the establishment of the park,
• 1:26:53
  Speaker 1: the fortifications and trenches have suffered marked alteration from wind
• 1:26:58
  Speaker 1: and weather. Barrels are originals used during the Civil War,
• 1:27:03
  Speaker 1: the carriages are replacements. This self guiding tour begins at
• 1:27:08
  Speaker 1: the museum, Going north on Confederate Avenue. It provides a
• 1:27:12
  Speaker 1: brief inspection of Union Avenue, proceeds to the National Cemetery,
• 1:27:16
  Speaker 1: a distance of six miles and returns south by way
• 1:27:20
  Speaker 1: of Union Avenue. The numbered stops of this tour correspond
• 1:27:25
  Speaker 1: to the numbers on the tour map found on pages
• 1:27:28
  Speaker 1: twenty eight and twenty nine one. Museum and Park headquarters
• 1:27:33
  Speaker 1: located at the center of Confederate Avenue at its junction
• 1:27:36
  Speaker 1: with US eighty. Here are exhibits illustrating and explaining the
• 1:27:40
  Speaker 1: campaign and siege of Vicksburg and the outstanding features of
• 1:27:44
  Speaker 1: Vicksburg National Military Park. A recorded lecture synchronized with lights
• 1:27:49
  Speaker 1: on a large relief map, explains fully the story of
• 1:27:52
  Speaker 1: the Vicksburg operations. Two. Jefferson Davis Statue in front of museum.
• 1:27:58
  Speaker 1: Davis was a West Point graduate at Mexican War, Colonel
• 1:28:01
  Speaker 1: Mississippi cotton planter, United States Senator, Secretary of War, and
• 1:28:06
  Speaker 1: finally President of the Confederacy. As you begin the tour,
• 1:28:10
  Speaker 1: notice the natural strength of the Confederate position on the
• 1:28:13
  Speaker 1: crest of the ridge. The ground drops away to your right,
• 1:28:16
  Speaker 1: and several hundred yards across the ravine rises to a
• 1:28:20
  Speaker 1: similar and parallel ridge. From this, the Union Army launched
• 1:28:24
  Speaker 1: its siege operations against the Confederate line. Before the siege began,
• 1:28:28
  Speaker 1: all the trees between the lines had been cut down
• 1:28:31
  Speaker 1: by the Confederate engineers to insure a clear field of fire.
• 1:28:36
  Speaker 1: Three Pemberton Statue. Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton, an ady Pennsylvanian,
• 1:28:41
  Speaker 1: elected to fight for the South and commanded the Confederate
• 1:28:45
  Speaker 1: Army of Vicksburg. When a command in keeping with his
• 1:28:48
  Speaker 1: rank of three star general was unavailable after Vicksburg, he
• 1:28:52
  Speaker 1: voluntarily resigned his commission and served as a lieutenant colonel
• 1:28:56
  Speaker 1: of artillery for the remainder of the war. A testimony
• 1:29:00
  Speaker 1: of his loyalty to the South. Four Mississippi Monument, a
• 1:29:04
  Speaker 1: state memorial to her forty six hundred soldiers in the siege.
• 1:29:08
  Speaker 1: The bass relief and sculptors around the base of the
• 1:29:11
  Speaker 1: shaft depict battle scenes. The nine inch Dohlgren gun at
• 1:29:16
  Speaker 1: the rear of the monument was one of the largest
• 1:29:19
  Speaker 1: used at Vicksburg. Five Talgmann Statue. This is a monument
• 1:29:24
  Speaker 1: to Brigadier General Lloyd Tigeman, who was killed at the
• 1:29:26
  Speaker 1: Battle of Champions Hill, eighteen miles east of Vicksburg as
• 1:29:31
  Speaker 1: he manned an artillery piece in an attempt to hold
• 1:29:34
  Speaker 1: off a Union charge. A broken gun carriage lies under
• 1:29:38
  Speaker 1: his horse's fore feet. Six Louisiana Monument and Great Redoubt,
• 1:29:43
  Speaker 1: the largest fort on the Confederate line. Its well preserved
• 1:29:47
  Speaker 1: walls extend on both sides of the Louisiana Memorial. On
• 1:29:51
  Speaker 1: top is the Eternal Torch. The low marble markers on
• 1:29:54
  Speaker 1: the slope below the avenue in front of the fort
• 1:29:58
  Speaker 1: mark the farthest advance of Union regiments in the unsuccessful
• 1:30:01
  Speaker 1: assault of May twenty two. On the ridge. Two hundred
• 1:30:05
  Speaker 1: yards away is the Union Line seven surrender site. Grant
• 1:30:10
  Speaker 1: and Pemberton met under an oak tree midway between the
• 1:30:14
  Speaker 1: lines for surrender negotiations. The tree immediately vanished to provide
• 1:30:18
  Speaker 1: souvenirs of the historic event. Notches on this monument, erected
• 1:30:23
  Speaker 1: by Union soldiers after the surrender, are the work of
• 1:30:26
  Speaker 1: latter day souvenir hunters. The tour now follows Union Avenue,
• 1:30:31
  Speaker 1: which parallels Confederate Avenue for a short distance before returning
• 1:30:35
  Speaker 1: to the Confederate Line. Eight Michigan Monument, symbolic figure of
• 1:30:41
  Speaker 1: Michigan bringing laurels to her soldiers of their siege. Beyond
• 1:30:45
  Speaker 1: the monument left of the avenue noticed the wall which
• 1:30:48
  Speaker 1: protected the Union artillery. Nine Shirley House, a siege landmark
• 1:30:54
  Speaker 1: and termed the White House by the soldiers. It is
• 1:30:57
  Speaker 1: the lone surviving wartime structure in the ten Illinois monument
• 1:31:03
  Speaker 1: Modeled after the Pantheon in Rome, this Memorial Temple, the
• 1:31:07
  Speaker 1: largest monument on the field, is dedicated to the thirty
• 1:31:10
  Speaker 1: six thousand, three hundred and twelve Illinois men whose names
• 1:31:14
  Speaker 1: are inscribed on the bronze plaques within. The Illinois Commission
• 1:31:18
  Speaker 1: specified that no device indicative of war should appear on
• 1:31:22
  Speaker 1: the memorial. Eleven third Louisiana Redan. This Confederate fort marked
• 1:31:29
  Speaker 1: by the three artillery pieces at right of the avenue,
• 1:31:32
  Speaker 1: was reached by Logan's approach, a Union advanced trench. Federal
• 1:31:37
  Speaker 1: engineers constructed a mine underneath the Redan and exploded twenty
• 1:31:41
  Speaker 1: two hundred pounds of powder, which blasted a tremendous crater
• 1:31:45
  Speaker 1: into which Union infantry raced, only to be driven back
• 1:31:49
  Speaker 1: after severe fighting. Twelve Glass Bayou Bridge. The precipitous slopes
• 1:31:55
  Speaker 1: of the ridges and deeply cut ravines protected the city,
• 1:31:59
  Speaker 1: making Vicksburg and natural fortress. The seventy five foot dropped
• 1:32:03
  Speaker 1: from the bridge well illustrates the difficult terrain over which
• 1:32:07
  Speaker 1: the Union army moved thirteen Arkansas Monument. Sight of the
• 1:32:12
  Speaker 1: Arkansas Memorial. The twin pylons a representative of North and South,
• 1:32:17
  Speaker 1: which were split by the sword of war and reunited
• 1:32:20
  Speaker 1: by the Cross of faith in a restored Union. Depicted
• 1:32:24
  Speaker 1: on the left are Arkansas soldiers repelling a Union assault
• 1:32:28
  Speaker 1: on the right of the Confederate ram Arkansas. Fourteen Missouri Monument.
• 1:32:34
  Speaker 1: A border state. Missouri was divided in sympathy during the
• 1:32:38
  Speaker 1: Civil War, her soldiers enlisted in the armies of both
• 1:32:41
  Speaker 1: the North and the South. By the fortunes of war.
• 1:32:44
  Speaker 1: In this sector of the siege line, Missouri soldiers of
• 1:32:47
  Speaker 1: the Union and Confederate armies faced and fought each other.
• 1:32:51
  Speaker 1: The monument honors both. The plaque on the left depicts
• 1:32:54
  Speaker 1: Missouri Federals attacking this position. On the right Missouri Confederates
• 1:32:59
  Speaker 1: defending it. Between the panels, the prow of the ship
• 1:33:03
  Speaker 1: of State symbolizes the divided Union. The figure above is
• 1:33:07
  Speaker 1: the Republic emerging from the war with renewed strength. Fifteen
• 1:33:13
  Speaker 1: Stockade Ridan for a close view of siege warfare, walk
• 1:33:17
  Speaker 1: up into the fort to the artillery piece at the
• 1:33:20
  Speaker 1: right of the avenue from the ridge one hundred and
• 1:33:23
  Speaker 1: fifty yards away. Union cannon, which are trained on the fort,
• 1:33:27
  Speaker 1: blasted the Confederate defenders continuously. During the assault of May
• 1:33:32
  Speaker 1: twenty two, Grant's infantry reached the wall of the fort.
• 1:33:36
  Speaker 1: The two black markers in front of the cannon and
• 1:33:39
  Speaker 1: just below it indicate where color bearers planted their flags
• 1:33:43
  Speaker 1: almost at the top of the wall before the assault
• 1:33:46
  Speaker 1: was broken and driven back. Sixteen Observation Tower, erected by
• 1:33:51
  Speaker 1: the Vicksburg National Military Park Commission in nineteen o nine
• 1:33:56
  Speaker 1: to provide a panoramic view of the park and the
• 1:33:58
  Speaker 1: city of Vicksburg. Seventeen Fort Hill, anchoring the Confederate left
• 1:34:04
  Speaker 1: flank on the Mississippi River. Its guns commanded the Union
• 1:34:08
  Speaker 1: right as well as the river. The flags of England, France, Spain,
• 1:34:12
  Speaker 1: the United States, and the Confederate States have flown over
• 1:34:15
  Speaker 1: this historic site where the bluffs meet the river during
• 1:34:19
  Speaker 1: the century's old struggle for control of the Mississippi. Fort Negauales,
• 1:34:24
  Speaker 1: Spanish was built here in seventeen ninety one, and Fort
• 1:34:27
  Speaker 1: mc henry seventeen ninety eight was the first American settlement
• 1:34:31
  Speaker 1: at Vicksburg. The water below the fort is not the
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 1: Mississippi River it changed its course in eighteen seventy six,
• 1:34:38
  Speaker 1: but the Yazoo Diversion Canal, bringing the Yazoo water into
• 1:34:43
  Speaker 1: the old bed of the Mississippi eighteen. Vicksburg National Cemetery
• 1:34:49
  Speaker 1: established in eighteen sixty six to re enter the remains
• 1:34:52
  Speaker 1: of nearly seventeen thousand Union soldiers who had been given
• 1:34:56
  Speaker 1: temporary burial in scattered locations during the war. The identity
• 1:35:00
  Speaker 1: of almost thirteen thousand of the soldiers is unknown. The
• 1:35:04
  Speaker 1: National Cemetery also contains the remains of veterans of the
• 1:35:08
  Speaker 1: Mexican and Spanish American Wars, World Wars one and two,
• 1:35:13
  Speaker 1: and Korea. From the lower Cemetery drive, you may leave
• 1:35:17
  Speaker 1: the park and emerge two miles north of downtown Vicksburg
• 1:35:21
  Speaker 1: on U S sixty one. If time permits, we recommend
• 1:35:24
  Speaker 1: your completing the tour of the park by following the
• 1:35:27
  Speaker 1: park tour arrows from the Cemetery south on Union Avenue
• 1:35:32
  Speaker 1: in order that you may view the Union lines and
• 1:35:34
  Speaker 1: monuments and the southern portion of the park. Nineteen Union
• 1:35:39
  Speaker 1: Navy Memorial. The two hundred and two foot shaft is
• 1:35:43
  Speaker 1: a tribute to the achievements of the Union Navy in
• 1:35:47
  Speaker 1: the Vicksburg Operations. Statues of four fleet commanders Admirals Farragut
• 1:35:52
  Speaker 1: and Porter, and Flag Officers Davis and Andrew h Foot
• 1:35:55
  Speaker 1: surround the base. Twenty Grant's headquarters. The equestrian statue of
• 1:36:01
  Speaker 1: General Grant marks his headquarters location. Impressive monuments here of
• 1:36:06
  Speaker 1: five Northeastern states Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, and
• 1:36:11
  Speaker 1: Rhode Island indicate their troops were on the exterior line
• 1:36:15
  Speaker 1: of defense against Johnston's army. Twenty one Wisconsin Monument, Old Abe,
• 1:36:21
  Speaker 1: the famous Wisconsin War eagle and mascot of the eighth Wisconsin,
• 1:36:25
  Speaker 1: was carried alongside the regimental colors on the march and
• 1:36:29
  Speaker 1: in battle through three years of war. A six foot
• 1:36:32
  Speaker 1: bronze replica atop the state monument now honors his war
• 1:36:37
  Speaker 1: service names of all Wisconsin soldiers at Vicksburg or on
• 1:36:41
  Speaker 1: plaques around the base. Twenty two Minnesota Monument. At the
• 1:36:46
  Speaker 1: base of the hundred foot shaft, a symbolic figure of
• 1:36:49
  Speaker 1: peace holds a shield and a sword, signifying that the
• 1:36:52
  Speaker 1: soldiers of both armies have placed their weapons in her
• 1:36:56
  Speaker 1: keeping and the Union is at Peace three Iowa Monument
• 1:37:02
  Speaker 1: in front A mounted color bearer with unfurled flag awaits
• 1:37:06
  Speaker 1: the order to advance. The six bronze bass relief panels
• 1:37:10
  Speaker 1: portray scenes of the Vicksburg operations in which Iowa's soldiers participated,
• 1:37:16
  Speaker 1: the bombardment of a Grand Gulf, the battles of Port Gibson, Jackson,
• 1:37:21
  Speaker 1: Champions Hill, and Big Black River, and the assault on
• 1:37:24
  Speaker 1: Vicksburg of May twenty two, eighteen sixty three. Twenty four.
• 1:37:29
  Speaker 1: Fort Garrett also called Square Fort. Its walls are well preserved.
• 1:37:34
  Speaker 1: The two lines of markers in front of the fort
• 1:37:36
  Speaker 1: indicate the side of Hovey's approach. A Union trench dug
• 1:37:40
  Speaker 1: almost against the walls of the Confederate Fort. Twenty five
• 1:37:45
  Speaker 1: Alabama Monument around the Flag, which represents the spirit of Alabama.
• 1:37:50
  Speaker 1: The group of figures symbolizes the courage and devotion of
• 1:37:53
  Speaker 1: both the soldiers and women of Alabama during the war.
• 1:37:57
  Speaker 1: The monument was dedicated in nineteen fifty one. This completes
• 1:38:02
  Speaker 1: the park tour. By continuing northward on Confederate Avenue for
• 1:38:06
  Speaker 1: one half mile, you will reach US eighty Memorial Arch.
• 1:38:10
  Speaker 1: Turning left through the arch, you will be in the
• 1:38:12
  Speaker 1: city of Vicksburg. Colored route markers will guide you over
• 1:38:16
  Speaker 1: US sixty one north and south and US eighty west
• 1:38:20
  Speaker 1: through the city. You may also reach US sixty one
• 1:38:23
  Speaker 1: south and US eighty west by turning south at the
• 1:38:26
  Speaker 1: Alabamama Monument and following Confederate Avenue through the southernmost portion
• 1:38:31
  Speaker 1: of Vicksburg National Military Park to US sixty one below
• 1:38:36
  Speaker 1: the city of Vicksburg the park. Vicksburg National Military Park
• 1:38:41
  Speaker 1: was established in eighteen ninety nine to preserve the site
• 1:38:45
  Speaker 1: of the Siege of Vicksburg, and was placed under the
• 1:38:47
  Speaker 1: jurisdiction of the War Department. In nineteen thirty three, it
• 1:38:51
  Speaker 1: was transferred to the National Park Service of the United
• 1:38:54
  Speaker 1: States Department of the Interior. The park consists generally of
• 1:38:58
  Speaker 1: the Confederate and Unions siege lines now Confederate and Union Avenues,
• 1:39:03
  Speaker 1: and the area between the parks. Thirty miles of avenues
• 1:39:07
  Speaker 1: in about thirteen hundred and thirty acres of federally owned
• 1:39:11
  Speaker 1: land contain one hundred and twenty eight military pieces and
• 1:39:14
  Speaker 1: sixteen hundred monuments, markers, and tablets, as well as seventeen
• 1:39:19
  Speaker 1: state memorials. How to reach the park, the park forms
• 1:39:23
  Speaker 1: a semicircle around the city of Vicksburg, Mississippi, which is
• 1:39:27
  Speaker 1: located at the intersection of U. S. Eighty and sixty one,
• 1:39:30
  Speaker 1: midway between Memphis and New Orleans. Administration Vicksburg Military Park
• 1:39:36
  Speaker 1: is administered by the National Park Service of the United
• 1:39:39
  Speaker 1: States Department of the Interior. Communications should be addressed to
• 1:39:43
  Speaker 1: the Superintendent Vicksburg National Military Park, BOKS three forty nine Vicksburg,
• 1:39:49
  Speaker 1: Mississippi related areas. Other Civil War battlefields administered by the
• 1:39:54
  Speaker 1: National Park Service and important to the military operations in
• 1:39:58
  Speaker 1: the West are Shiloh, Stones River and Fort Donaldson National
• 1:40:02
  Speaker 1: Military Parks, Tennessee and Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, Georgia, Tennessee.
• 1:40:11
  Speaker 1: Visitor facilities, the Union and Confederate siege lines are well
• 1:40:15
  Speaker 1: marked and readily visible from Union and Confederate avenues. Information
• 1:40:19
  Speaker 1: and free literature, as well as the service of park historians,
• 1:40:23
  Speaker 1: are available in the museum, which contains exhibits explaining and
• 1:40:27
  Speaker 1: illustrating the Vicksburg operations. An electrical relief map synchronized with
• 1:40:32
  Speaker 1: a recorded lecture, affords a full explanation of the campaign
• 1:40:37
  Speaker 1: and siege to each visitor. Educational groups may receive a
• 1:40:41
  Speaker 1: guided tour of the park. End of Part four End
• 1:40:46
  Speaker 1: of Vicksburg National Military Park, Mississippi by William C. Everhart