The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1914-08-10
.V|CKSBURG RECALLS
DEFENSE Of CITY
by GEN. PEMBERTON
BLUFF CITY PAYS HONOR TO
I HERO WHO MADE BOLD STAND
AGAINST FEDERALs.
FAMOUS CONFEDERATE
| BORN IN PHILADELPHIA
Thres Months siege Taxed Strength
4. OF Both Armies and the End, With
Victory to unionists, Marked Turn
ing Point in Civil War.

Vicksburg, Miss, Aug. 10.-The CEN
tennial anniversary of the birth of Gen.
John C. Pemberton, famous in histroy
as the defender of Vicksburg against
the Federals in the civil war was OBJ
served here today with appropriate
exercises.
Gen. Pemberton was born in Phila-
delphia, Aug. 10, 1914. After gradual
ing from West Point he saw service
in the Mexican war and in various In
dian campaigns. At the beginning of
the civil war he cast his fortunes with
the South. He was selected for the
important command at Vicksburg by
Jefferson Davis. Gen. Pemberton was
| favorite with the President of the
Confederate States and had been ap-
pointed lieutenant general before his
assignment to the command of the
department. of the Mississippi.
Toward the end of the second year
of the war the Mississippi river, the
possession of which was indispensable
to the national cause, was still held
by the Confederates. So long as this
vast highway was closed at any point
to the fleets of the Union, the nationa
power was to a great extent paralyzet
in the West.
From it's source to the city of Vicks
burg the river had been freed by Gen
Grants operations, and the mouths O
the great highway had been controlled
by the Union since the capture O
New Orleans by Admiral Farragut, bu
from Vicksburg to Port Hudson, {
distance of about 200 miles, the Con
federates held almost unbroken pos
session.
BY means of this great belt of terri
tory they kept up undisturbed com
munication with the country west o
the Mississippi. They held Louisiani
as a field of maneuver and supply
while the vast empire of Texas, tn
most important beef producing regiol
of the continent, was subject to thei
orders.
Near the close of 1862 Gen.. Gran
} turned his attention to the project o
an advance through the State of Mis-
sissippi in the rear of Vicksburg. T
command this expedition he selecte
Gen. William T. Sherman, but the al
tack that the latter made on the grea
Confederate stronghold proved a
: futile as those assaults that had pre-
ceded. =
Standing on plateau 200 feet abov
the river level, with the ravines to
steep for full-armed soldier to clim
them, and the crests FULLY commando
by the Confederate works, Vicksbur
offered hard problem to Gen. Gran
He was supplied with an army whic
on an ordinary field probably woul
have been irresistible to any force tn
Confederates were able to brin
against him, but for three months b
was unable to make single inch I
progress. Defended on the south /
Notifications that had proved impre
nable, and on the north by the va
network of bayou and marsh whis
filled the entire space from Vicksbul
). to Memphis, north and south, and fro
! the Yazoo to the Mississippi, east al
/, west, the stronghold which Gen. Pei
a berton held had powerful Nauxiliari
in the forces of nature and the singul
topography of the country.
In was in this great swamp that t
fortunes of Gen Grant, where he
~ saw their darkest hour, threatened
% one time to be hopelessly engulf'
rs and it was the final success OF
.v plans in the surrender of vicksbu
M on July 4, 1868, that, with the victt
nr at Gettysburg (Which occurred on
an same day., marked the turning po
for the Union arms in the civil war