How the Vicksburg Siege May Have Turned the Tide of the Civil War—Samuel Mitcham

History Unplugged Podcast · Aug 16, 2018 · 55m

“Traitor!” “Failure!” “Bungling fool!”

Southern newspapers hurled these sentiments at Confederate General John C. Pemberton after he surrendered the fortress of Vicksburg—the key to controlling the Mississippi River during the Civil War. But were they justified in their accusations?

Today I'm talking with Dr. Samuel Mitcham, author of Vicksburg: The Bloody Siege that Turned the Tide of the Civil War. He argues that these newspapers—and history itself—have wrongly marred Pemberton’s legacy.

Some of the myths he argues against are that Pemberton’s indecisiveness delayed the aid Vicksburg…