{"id":11652,"date":"2024-01-06T04:20:11","date_gmt":"2024-01-06T03:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aboutriver.com\/?p=11652"},"modified":"2024-01-06T04:20:11","modified_gmt":"2024-01-06T03:20:11","slug":"was-vicksburg-the-last-big-stronghold-on-the-mississippi-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aboutriver.com\/was-vicksburg-the-last-big-stronghold-on-the-mississippi-river\/","title":{"rendered":"Was Vicksburg The Last Big Stronghold On The Mississippi River"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Battle of Vicksburg<\/h2>\n

The siege of Vicksburg was a pivotal point in the war for the Mississippi river, with the city itself being the last Confederate stronghold on the river. It began in May of 1863, when the Union sent a massive force under General Ulysses S. Grant to encircle the port town. For over two months, Grant’s forces laid siege to the city, bombarding it from the hills and land around Vicksburg, as well as from the Mississippi river. On July 4th, Vicksburg surrendered, effectively ending the Confederate control of the river. This was a major victory for the Union forces, likely determining the outcome of the war.<\/p>\n

According to historian and military strategist Dennis Hart Mahan, the importance of Vicksburg in the war was that it prevented the Confederacy from moving troops and armaments down the river.<\/p>\n

“Vicksburg was a stronghold of the road down which the Confederate armies moved by water, and while it held out, it enabled the South to maintain a large force, capable of manoeuvre and able to suspend communications with the Mississippi. But the Federals having gained possession of the stronghold, the South was cut off, as regards land communication, from its main army on the Mississippi, and they were isolated.”<\/p>\n

In the words of Civil War historian and author Shelby Foote, “…Vicksburg was the nailhead that held the South’s two halves together; Grant drove it through the border states and the war was over.”<\/p>\n