Edwin C. Bearss - Rebel Victory at Vicksburg

This edition is published by Papamoa Press www.pp-publishing.com

To join our mailing list for new titles or for issues with our books papamoapress@gmail.com

Or on Facebook

Text originally published in 1963 under the same title.

Papamoa Press 2017, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Publishers Note

Although in most cases we have retained the Authors original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern readers benefit.

We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

REBEL VICTORY AT VICKSBURG

by

EDWIN C. BEARSS

Contents

To my wife, family, and friends who have suffered through many years of the Civil War, I gratefully dedicate this volume .

Ed Bearss

I am deeply grateful to:

My wife, Margie Riddle Bearss, for her proofreading, criticism and help,

James W. Holland, Regional Historian for the National Park Service, Richmond, Virginia, for reading the manuscript and making comments and suggestions,

Ken Watkins of Little Rock for reading the manuscript and indexing,

Mrs. Laura Chappell of Manteo, N. C., Mrs. Eunice Simmons, Mrs. Florence Bori, Mrs. Betty Gentry, and Miss Charlie Sue Gartman of Vicksburg for typing,

The Mississippi Department of Archives and History and the Vicksburg Public Libraryespecially Miss Mary Sherard for putting up with my many requests for books from the Library of Congress,

John R. Peacock of High Point, North Carolina, for the loan of many books from his personal library,

William E. Geoghegan of the Smithsonian Institution for the answers to numerous questions regarding ship construction and nomenclature,

Captain Victor Gondos and the personnel of the National Archives for searching the files for unpublished source materials,

B. R. Adams of Shreveport, Louisiana, for drawing the maps,

The National Park Service for use of their source material and their encouragement,

Albert Banton and the personnel of the Vicksburg National Military Park for their co-operation,

And to the Mississippi Commission on the War Between the States, the Vicksburg Centennial Commemoration Association, and especially to the chairman of the Mississippi Commission on the War Between the States, Mayor John Holland of Vicksburg.

New Orleans to Baton Rouge

Port Hudson to Natchez

Coles Creek to Vicksburg

Union Advance on Vicksburg

Farragut Passes the Batteries

The Arkansas Comes Out

The importance of the Mississippi Valley, the great Heartland of North America, was readily apparent to strategists in the North and South. To protect the Mississippi Valley the Confederate high command in the late summer of 1861 established a defense line with its left flank anchored on the Mississippi at Columbus, Kentucky, its center on Bowling Green, and its right on Cumberland Gap. Two forts, Henry on the Tennessee River and Donelson on the Cumberland River, were erected and manned. The Confederate leaders hoped these two strongholds would close the two rivers to an advance by a Union amphibious force. In southwestern Missouri, a Confederate army led by Major-General Sterling Price guarded the Granby lead mines.

On the Mississippi River south of Columbus, the Confederates threw up fortifications at Island No. 10, and on the Chickasaw Bluffs north of Memphis. If the ocean-going navy should attempt to enter the mouth of the Mississippi, it would have to fight its way past Forts St. Philip and Jackson, seventy miles below New Orleans.

In May 1861, Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott began maturing plans for a movement down the Mississippi. The conquest of the great valley was already the subject of considerable discussion in the press. Finally, it was decided to strike from two directions. Plans were laid for a massive converging attack. One force (the army supported by river gunboats) would descend the Mississippi, while another task force (the deep-water navy supported by the army) would ascend the river from its mouth. Between these two forces, if all went as planned, the Confederacy would be cut in two.

At Belmont, Missouri, on November 7, 1861, occurred the first significant clash in the Union drive to wrestle control of the Mississippi Valley from the Confederates. In this battle, a force under Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant captured the Confederate camp opposite Columbus. The timely arrival of Southern reinforcements turned the tide against the Federals. Grants troops were driven back to their transports, which carried them back to their base of operations at Cairo, Illinois. Grants attack on Belmont was designed to cover a campaign by other Union forces to drive Jeff Thompsons Confederates out of southeast Missouri. In addition, the engagement at Belmont has some significance since it was Grants first important independent command.

The Confederate force covering Cumberland Gap was routed in the Battle of Mill Springs on January 19. Following this disaster, the army charged with covering the Confederate right in the Mississippi Valley was compelled to fall back to Cumberland Gap. The next blow fell on the Confederate center. In January 1862, Major-General Henry W. Halleck (who commanded the Department of the Missouri) strongly endorsed a plan of operations that called for an amphibious thrust up the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers. Halleck pointed out that by the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson the Federals would be able to outflank the Confederate stronghold at Columbus. The large Confederate garrison would either have to evacuate or stand siege.

In consequence of this decision on Hallecks part, Grant moved up the Tennessee River. Fort Henry was captured by the navy on February 6, Grant then attacked Fort Donelson, which surrendered ten days later. The results of these great victories were quickly apparent. The Confederates were forced to evacuate Middle Tennessee, including Nashville. Hallecks opinion regarding Columbus was verified, when the Southerners also gave up that stronghold.

While Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and Pierre G. T. Beauregard strove to establish a new Confederate defense line anchored in the west on Island No. 10, they learned that the Confederate army in northwest Arkansas had been defeated at Pea Ridge. Thus, the initial Southern defense line in the west had collapsed.

Within the next several weeks a Union amphibious force (the army under Major-General John Pope, and the river gunboats commanded by Flag Officer Andrew H. Foote) closed in on Island No. 10. In the meantime, General Halleck had General Grant, now a major general, mass his army at Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River. There, he would await the arrival of Major-General Don Carlos Buells Army of the Ohio, which was advancing cross-country from Nashville. When Buells army reached Pittsburg Landing, the combined armies under Hallecks direction would advance and capture Corinth.