Vicksburg Is the Key: The Struggle for the Mississippi River (Great Campaigns of the Civil War Series)

Rating:
Summary: The Beginning of the Confederacy's End
Review: The text notes that General Winfield Scott observed "The Mississippi is the backbone of the Rebellion.... it is the key to the whole situation." The rapid movement of men and equipment from one front to another in the vast western theater was a strategic advantage rivers gave Union military leaders. Conversely, with its seaports blockaded, unhampered ability to move men and supplies eastward on and across the Mississippi River was critical for Confederate survival. Thus, the Mississippi River was of strategic importance to both the Union and the Confederacy.

The text notes that New Orleans was the South's largest, wealthiest, and most industrialized city. However, New Orleans surrendered to Farragut in 1862, only one year after Fort Sumter. The Federals then began the complex/long campaign, not completed until July 1863, to clear the entire Mississippi River. By the spring of 1863, Vicksburg and Port Hudson were the only two Confederate forts blocking the Mississippi River. The authors, William L. Shea and Terrence J. Winschel, present an interesting narration of the campaign of Grant's progress down the river to Vicksburg and General Banks march north to an unfilled union with Grant. In many respects this was a trial and error campaign; Grant found that it was almost impossible to attack Vicksburg from the north or west, and he decided to cross the Mississippi River south of Vicksburg and attack the city from the southeast or east.

Most interesting during this campaign was the successful combined operations of army and navy resources. Admiral Porter made a dramatic run down the Mississippi past the Vicksburg batteries in order to ferry Union soldiers across the river below Vicksburg. In addition, while Vicksburg was under siege, Porter bombarded the city with his naval cannons.

After much bloody fighting east of Vicksburg, in May 1863 Grant's army reached the Vicksburg fortifications. After two unsuccessful direct assaults on the Rebels, a series of thirteen trenches were dug to the very face of the Confederate fortifications bringing Vicksburg under siege and sealing its doom. When completed over sixty thousand feet of excavations, manned by Union troops, were completed. By July Vicksburg's Confederate General Pemberton and his soldiers were hungry, sick and despaired of rescue. On July 3 General Pemberton asked Grant for surrender terms; Grant's answer was "unconditional surrender." Grant rejected Pemberton proposed surrender terms and promised to send amended terms of surrender that night to Pemberton that he accepted early on July 4.

The authors review the question of the lack of Confederate aid for Vicksburg noting that by early June, Richmond had sent Johnston thirty-two thousand troops and urged General Joe Johnston to relieve Vicksburg. Apparently Johnston never intended to save Vicksburg. Grant next moved east to turn on General Johnston. After eight weeks, Johnston abandoned Jackson, Mississippi and fled east eastward away from Grant.

The text concludes with an account of the battle for Port Hudson. Like Grant, Union General Banks, made a direct assault on the Rebel fortifications with disastrous results.Banks next initiated digging the way into Port Hudson; but impatient for results, tried another disastrous direct assault on June 14. Upon receiving word of Vicksburg surrender, Port Hudson surrendered on July 9, and General Banks informed Grant "The Mississippi is open.". On July 16 the steamboat Imperial, eight days out of St. Louis, docked in New Orleans. The struggle for the Mississippi River was over.

This is a readable account. Most interesting is to witness the development of General Grant into a first rate field general. The last chapter in the book is an EPILOGUE that provides a brief account after Vicksburg of several major commanders after Vicksburg.

Rating:
Summary: Strong entry in a strong series
Review: The University of Nebraska Press's Great Campaigns in the Civil War Series has become a great boon to period historians. It offers concise overviews and refreshing new perspectives on the conflict written by knowledgable scholars. I have yet to be disappointed with a volume in this fine series, but this entry has become my favorite, so much so that I felt compelled to praise it. Shea and Winschel simply provide the clearest and most useful one-volume history of the war around Vicksburg. I learned quite a bit that soon will find its way into lecture notes, and I'm suddenly yearning to revisit Vicksburg after many years. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Strong entry in a strong series
Review: The University of Nebraska Press's Great Campaigns in the Civil War Series has become a great boon to period historians. It offers concise overviews and refreshing new perspectives on the conflict written by knowledgable scholars. I have yet to be disappointd with a volume in this fine series, but this entry has become my favorite, so much so that I felt compelled to praise it. Shea and Winschel simply provide the clearest and most useful one-volume history of the war around Vicksburg. I learned quite a bit that soon will find its way into lecture notes, and I'm suddenly yearning to revisit Vicksburg after many years. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but with an odd ending
Review: This slim work actually speaks volumes, and is written in an engaging, fast-moving account that will satisfy either the Civil War buff, historian or general reader. The final chapter on Port Hudson is the only downside. That city's capture was part of the campaign described in this book, but its exclusion from the rest of this work makes it oddly out of place.