<i>Siege of Vicksburg</i> Lithograph
date: label: date made
content: ca 1888
label: copyright date
content: 1888
name: label: maker
content: Kurz & Allison-Art Studio
notes: label: Description
content: Physical Description
label: Description
content: Lithographic print.
label: Description
content: General History
label: Description
content: Both the North and the South saw Vicksburg as the lynchpin to victory in the war. President Abraham Lincoln said: "Vicksburg is the key. The war can never be brought to a close until the key is in our pocket," Confederate President Jefferson Davis said: "Vicksburg is the nail head that holds the South's two halves together." On May 22, 1863, Ulysses Grant sent brigades from three corps of the army to assault the city. While the assault showed some success, a long bitter struggle ensued and the Confederates quickly restored their original lines of defense. The Union army suffered 3,199 casualties, while the Confederates lost less than 500 men. Realizing that the city could not be taken by assault, Grant ordered his engineers to begin siege operations. The siege cut off all supplies going into the city and the constant hammering of siege artillery drove many of the citizens into caves dug into the hillsides. The siege finally ended when on July 4, 1863, General John Pemberton surrendered the town to Grant, thus sealing the fate of the Confederate States of America.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: depicted
content: United States: Mississippi, Vicksburg
topic: label: Subject
content: Civil War
label: Subject
content: Battle Scenes
label: related event
content: Siege of Vicksburg
label: related event
content: Civil War
label: related event
content: Civil War and Reconstruction
setName: label: See more items in
content: Military and Society: Armed Forces History, Military
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content: Military
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content: Art
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content: ThinkFinity
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Dr. J. William Hinton
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: AF.58143M
label: accession number
content: 204114
label: catalog number
content: 58143M
objectType: label: Object Name
content: print
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 22 1/2 in x 28 1/4 in; 57.15 cm x 71.755 cm