Major General Ulysses S. Grant of the Union Army landed 24,000 men at Bruinsburg, Mississippi, on April 30, 1863, as part of the Vicksburg campaign, an operation intended to capture the important Mississippi River city of Vicksburg, Mississippi. On May 1, his men having driven east from the river, the Grant's men defeated the Confederates at the Battle of Port Gibson. After Port Gibson, Grant could choose to either attack Vicksburg from the south, or to march further to the east and then turn around and move west against the city. He decided upon the latter, as it gave greater prospects of capturing the Confederate army defending Vicksburg, in addition to the city itself.