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

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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.

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.

If you ever had trouble comprehending the time tables of manuever and operations to this immense and incredibly important campaign, Mr. Shea and Mr. Winschel's narrative is just what you're looking for. In just over two hundred pages the authors skillfully share the all important basics to this great Civil War story that designed and eventually robbed the Confederacy of the Mississippi River. Its an enjoyable short read that should forever clear up the confusion to the grand plan of taking both Vicksburg, Mississippi and Port Hudson, Louisiana.

The Great Campaigns of the Civil War is an awesome series! And this one, "Vicksburg is the Key" is one of the best, covering the entire time Vicksburg stood as a fort, from Admiral Farragut's failed attempt after taking New Orleans to Grant's huge siege in the summer of 1863.
This book is short, explains a great deal, and delves deep into the importance of Vicksburg both to the Union and Confederacy. Buy it, read it, enjoy it.

Vicksburg Is the Key: The Struggle for the Mississippi River, written by William Shea and Terrence Winschel, reflects Abraham Lincoln's view that (page 1) "The Mississippi is the backbone of the rebellion. . . .[I]t is the key to the whole situation." And central to the Confederate strategy to hold the Mississippi after 1862 was Vicksburg, "The Gibraltar of the West." This book does a serviceable job of explaining the Vicksburg Campaign and the context in which that campaign took place.

It begins by laying out the Civil War in the West, and the efforts by the Union to assert control over the Mississippi, from the taking of New Orleans to the success of John Pope at Island # 10. Confederate strategists came to realize the value of Vicksburg as Union forces moved upriver from New Orleans and downriver from island # 10 and Memphis. Vicksburg was transformed into a bastion to control the river from high atop the steep hill overlooking the Mississippi River.

The book proceeds by describing Grant's original plan, with him heading to Vicksburg overland and Sherman by the great river. After one of Carl Van Dorn's few great successes in destroying the Union base at Holly Springs, forcing Grant to retreat, Sherman ran into a stout defense alone and was repulsed. Thereafter, the book discusses the various failed "experiments" that Grant carried out, trying to figure a way to get at Vicksburg without what would surely be a sanguinary frontal assault on the bluffs.

Finally, Grant marched down the west bank of the Mississippi, crossed over at Hard Times, and began one of the most well implemented campaigns of the Civil War. First, Grant prevented General Joe Johnston from reinforcing General John Pemberton, Commander of the Vicksburg forces. Johnston was pushed out of Jackson. Thereupon, second, Grant turned to take on a mobile force sent to defeat Grant by Pemberton. At Champion Hill, Grant's forces won the day. After another reverse at the Big Black River, Pemberton's forces retreated to Vicksburg. After a futile attack on the city's works, Grant settled in for a siege. On July 4th, 1863, the defending forces surrendered to Grant. At that point, and with the later surrender of Port Hudson to Union General Nathaniel Banks, Lincoln could note that the Father of Waters flowed unvexed to the sea.

The triumph of Grant was a key turning point in the Civil War. This book does a solid job in describing the events leading up to the opening of the Mississippi River as a Union stream. It provides useful maps to clarify the geography and the nature of the campaign.

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.