Vicksburg Campaign The Vicksburg Campaign was a series of maneuvers and battles in the Western Theater of the American Civil War directed against Vicksburg , Mississippi , a fortress city that dominated the last Confederate - controlled section of the Mississippi River . The Union Army of the Tennessee under Maj . Gen . Ulysses S . Grant gained control of the river by capturing this stronghold and defeating Lt . Gen . John C . Pemberton ' s forces stationed there . The campaign consisted of many important naval operations , troop maneuvers , failed initiatives , and eleven distinct battles from December 26 , 1862 , to July 4 , 1863 . Military historians divide the campaign into two formal phases : Operations Against Vicksburg ( December 1862 — January 1863 ) and Grant ' s Operations Against Vicksburg ( March – July 1863 ) . Grant initially planned a two - pronged approach in which half of his army , under Maj . Gen . William T . Sherman , would advance to the Yazoo River and attempt to reach Vicksburg from the northeast , while Grant took the remainder of the army down the Mississippi Central Railroad . Both of these initiatives failed . Grant conducted a number of " experiments " or expeditions — Grant ' s Bayou Operations — that attempted to enable waterborne access to the Mississippi south of Vicksburg ' s artillery batteries . All five of these initiatives failed as well . Finally , Union gunboats and troop transport boats ran the batteries at Vicksburg and met up with Grant ' s men who had marched overland in Louisiana . On April 29 and April 30 , 1863 , Grant ' s army crossed the Mississippi and landed at Bruinsburg , Mississippi . An elaborate series of demonstrations and diversions fooled the Confederates and the landings occurred without opposition . Over the next 17 days , Grant maneuvered his army inland and won five battles , captured the state capital of Jackson , Mississippi , and assaulted and laid siege to Vicksburg . After Pemberton ' s army surrendered on July 4 ( one day after the Confederate defeat at Gettysburg ) , and when Port Hudson surrendered to Maj . Gen . Nathaniel P . Banks on July 9 , Texas and Arkansas were effectively cut off from the Confederacy , and the Mississippi River was once again open for northern commerce to reach the Gulf of Mexico , and as a supply line for the Union Army . Grant ' s Vicksburg Campaign is studied as a masterpiece of military operations and a major turning point of the war . Background . Vicksburg was strategically vital to the Confederates . Jefferson Davis said , " Vicksburg is the nail head that holds the South ' s two halves together . " While in their hands , it blocked Union navigation down the Mississippi ; together with control of the mouth of the Red River and of Port Hudson to the south , it allowed communication with the states west of the river , upon which the Confederates depended extensively for horses , cattle and reinforcements . The natural defenses of the city were ideal , earning it the nickname " The Gibraltar of the Confederacy . " It was located on a high bluff overlooking a horseshoe - shaped bend in the river , De Soto Peninsula , making it almost impossible to approach by ship . North and east of Vicksburg was the Mississippi Delta ( sometimes known as the Yazoo Delta ) , an area 200 miles ( 320 km ) north to south and up to 50 miles ( 80 km ) across , which has been described by geographer Warren E . Grabau as an " astonishingly complex network of intersecting waterways " , some of which were navigable by small steamboats . The regions between modern rivers and bayous formed closed basins called backswamps , of which Grabau judged , " Whether permanently flooded or not , the backswamps were , for all practical purposes , untamed wildernesses , utterly impassable by a man on horseback or by any form of wheeled vehicle , and very difficult even for a man on foot . " About twelve miles ( 19 km ) up the Yazoo River were Confederate batteries and entrenchments at Haynes Bluff . The Louisiana land west of Vicksburg was also difficult , with many streams and poor country roads , widespread winter flooding , and it was on the opposite side of the river from the fortress . The city had been under Union naval attack before . Admiral David Farragut moved up the river after he captured New Orleans and on May 18 , 1862 , demanded the surrender of Vicksburg . Farragut had insufficient troops to force the issue , and he moved back to New Orleans . He returned with a flotilla in June 1862 , but their attempts ( June 26 – 28 ) to bombard the fortress into surrender failed . They shelled Vicksburg throughout July and fought some minor battles with a few Confederate vessels in the area , but their forces were insufficient to attempt a landing , and they abandoned attempts to force the surrender of the city . Farragut investigated the possibility of bypassing the fortified cliffs by digging a canal across the neck of the river ' s bend , the De Soto Peninsula . On June 28 , Brig . Gen . Thomas Williams , attached to Farragut ' s command , began digging work on the canal by employing local laborers and some soldiers . Many of the men fell victim to tropical diseases and heat exhaustion , and the work was abandoned by July 24 . ( Williams was killed two weeks later in the Battle of Baton Rouge ) . In the fall of 1862 , Maj . Gen . Henry W . Halleck was promoted from command of the Western Theater to general - in - chief of all Union armies . On November 23 , he indicated to Grant his preference for a major move down the Mississippi to Vicksburg ; in Halleck ' s style , he left considerable initiative to design a campaign , an opportunity that the pugnacious Grant seized . Halleck has received criticism for not moving promptly overland from Memphis , Tennessee , to seize Vicksburg during the summer when he was in command on the scene . He believed that the Navy could capture the fortress on its own , not knowing that the naval force was insufficiently manned with ground troops to finish the job . What might have achieved success in the summer of 1862 was no longer possible by November because the Confederates had amply reinforced the garrison by that time . Grant ' s army marched south down the Mississippi Central Railroad , making a forward base at Holly Springs . He planned a two - pronged assault in the direction of Vicksburg . His principal subordinate , Maj . Gen . William T . Sherman , was to advance down the river with four divisions ( about 32 , 000 men ) and Grant would continue with the remaining forces ( about 40 , 000 ) down the railroad line to Oxford , where he would wait for developments , hoping to lure the Confederate army out of the city to attack him in the vicinity of Grenada , Mississippi . On the Confederate side , forces in Mississippi were under the command of Lt . Gen . John C . Pemberton , an officer from Pennsylvania who chose to fight for the South . Pemberton had approximately 12 , 000 men in Vicksburg and Jackson , Mississippi , and Maj . Gen . Earl Van Dorn had approximately 24 , 000 at Grenada . Meanwhile , political forces were at work . President Abraham Lincoln had long recognized the importance of Vicksburg ; he wrote " Vicksburg is the key . The war can never be brought to a close until the key is in our pocket . " Lincoln also envisioned a two - pronged offensive , but one up and down the river . Maj . Gen . John A . McClernand , a War Democrat politician , had convinced Lincoln that he could lead an army down the river and take Vicksburg . Lincoln approved his proposal and wanted Maj . Gen . Nathaniel P . Banks to advance up river from New Orleans at the same time . McClernand began organizing regiments , sending them to Memphis . Back in Washington , D . C . , Halleck was nervous about McClernand and gave Grant control of all troops in his own department . McClernand ' s troops were split into two corps , one under McClernand , the other under Sherman . McClernand complained but to no avail . Grant appropriated his troops , one of several maneuvers in a private dispute within the Union Army between Grant and McClernand that continued throughout the campaign . Battles in the Operations against Vicksburg , December 1862 – January 1863 . The " Operations against Vicksburg " phase of the Vicksburg Campaign comprises the following battles : Chickasaw Bayou ( December 26 – 29 , 1862 ) . Sherman disembarked with three divisions at Johnson ' s Plantation on the Yazoo River to approach the Vicksburg defenses from the northeast . On December 27 , the Federals pushed their lines forward through the swamps toward the Walnut Hills , which were strongly defended . On December 28 , several futile attempts were made to get around these defenses . On December 29 , Sherman ordered a frontal assault , which was repulsed with heavy casualties , and then withdrew . During this period , the overland half of Grant ' s offensive was failing . His lines of communication were disrupted by raids by Van Dorn and Brig . Gen . Nathan Bedford Forrest , who destroyed his large supply depot at Holly Springs . Unable to subsist his army without these supplies , Grant abandoned his overland advance . In early January , McClernand arrived at Memphis with the corps he had recruited ( the XIII Corps under Brig . Gen . George W . Morgan ) and commenced his operation down the Mississippi . On January 4 , he ordered Sherman to attach his XV Corps to the expedition , calling his combined 32 , 000 - man force the Army of the Mississippi . This was a direct provocation against Grant , but Sherman acceded to the senior officer . Sherman suggested beginning with a combined land and naval movement against Fort Hindman , on the Arkansas River at Arkansas Post , 50 miles up the Arkansas from its confluence with the Mississippi , a base from which Confederate gunboats were attacking Union shipping on the river . The expedition started without notifying Grant . Arkansas Post ( January 9 – 11 , 1863 ) . Union boats under Rear Adm . David Dixon Porter began landing troops near Arkansas Post in the evening of January 9 . The troops started up river towards Fort Hindman . Sherman ' s corps overran Confederate trenches , and the defenders retreated to the protection of the fort and adjacent rifle - pits . Porter , on January 10 , moved his fleet towards Fort Hindman and bombarded it , withdrawing at dusk . Union artillery fired on the fort from positions across the river on January 11 , and the infantry moved into position for an attack . Union ironclads commenced shelling the fort and Porter ' s fleet passed it to cut off any retreat . As a result of this envelopment , and the attack by Morgan ' s troops , the Confederate command surrendered in the afternoon . Although Union losses were high and the victory did not contribute to the capture of Vicksburg , it did eliminate one more impediment to Union shipping on the Mississippi . Grant was not happy to learn that McClernand had conducted the operation without his approval , considering it a distraction from his main objective of Vicksburg , but since it had been successful and his ally Sherman had suggested it , he took no punitive action . However , he ordered McClernand back to the Mississippi and assumed personal command of the campaign on January 13 at Milliken ' s Bend , 15 miles northwest of Vicksburg . Grant ' s Bayou Operations , January – March 1863 . That winter , Grant conducted a series of initiatives to approach and capture Vicksburg , termed " Grant ' s Bayou Operations " . Their general theme was to use or construct alternative waterways so that troops could be positioned within striking distance of Vicksburg , without requiring a direct approach on the Mississippi under the Confederate guns . Grant ' s Canal . The Williams Canal across De Soto Peninsula had been abandoned by Adm . Farragut and Brig . Gen . Williams in July 1862 , but it had the potential to offer a route downriver that bypassed Vicksburg ' s guns . In late January 1863 , Sherman ' s men , at the urging of Grant — who was advised by the navy that President Lincoln liked the idea — resumed digging . Sherman derisively called the work " Butler ' s Ditch " ( since it was Maj . Gen . Benjamin Butler who had sent Williams upriver to do the work ) , which was barely 6 feet wide by 6 feet deep . Grant , undoubtedly influenced by Lincoln ' s continuous inquiries as to the status of the canal , ordered Sherman to expand the canal to 60 feet wide and 7 feet deep and the effort became known as Grant ' s Canal . It was not properly engineered based upon the hydrology of the Mississippi River , however , and a sudden rise in the river broke through the dam at the head of the canal and flooded the area . The canal began to fill up with back water and sediment . In a desperate effort to rescue the project , two huge steam - driven dipper dredges , " Hercules " and " Sampson " , attempted to clear the channel , but the dredges were exposed to Confederate artillery fire from the bluffs at Vicksburg and driven away . By late March , work on the canal was abandoned . ( Remnants of about 200 yards of Grant ' s Canal are maintained by the Vicksburg National Military Park in Louisiana ) . Lake Providence Expedition . Grant ordered Brig . Gen . James B . McPherson to construct a canal of several hundred yards from the Mississippi to Lake Providence , northwest of the city . This would allow passage to the Red River , through Bayous Baxter and Macon , and the Tensas and Black Rivers . Reaching the Red River , Grant ' s force could join with Banks at Port Hudson . McPherson reported that the connection was navigable on March 18 , but the few " ordinary Ohio River boats " that had been sent to Grant for navigation of the bayous could only transport 8 , 500 men , far too few to tip the balance at Port Hudson . Although this was the only one of the bayou expeditions to successfully bypass the Vicksburg defenses , historian Ed Bearss calls this episode the " Lake Providence Boondoggle . " Yazoo Pass Expedition . The next attempt was to get to the high ground of the loess bluffs above Hayne ' s Bluff and below Yazoo City by blowing up the Mississippi River levee near Moon Lake , some 150 miles ( 240 km ) above Vicksburg , near Helena , Arkansas , and following the Yazoo Pass ( an old route from Yazoo City to Memphis , which was curtailed by the 1856 levee construction that sealed off the Pass from the Mississippi River to Moon Lake ) into the Coldwater River , then to the Tallahatchie River , and finally into the Yazoo River at Greenwood , Mississippi . The dikes were blown up on February 3 , beginning what was called the Yazoo Pass Expedition . Ten Union boats , under the command of Lt . Cmdr . Watson Smith , with army troops under the command of Brig . Gen . Benjamin Prentiss , began moving through the pass on February 7 . But low - hanging trees destroyed anything on the gunboats above deck and Confederates felled more trees to block the way . These delays allowed the Confederates time to quickly construct a " Fort Pemberton " near the confluence of the Tallahatchie and Yalobusha Rivers near Greenwood , Mississippi , which repulsed the naval force on March 11 , March 14 , and March 16 . The Union effort collapsed in early April . Steele ' s Bayou Expedition . Admiral Porter started an effort on March 16 to go up the Yazoo Delta via Steele ' s Bayou , just north of Vicksburg , to Deer Creek . This would outflank Fort Pemberton and allow landing troops between Vicksburg and Yazoo City . Animals attacked their boats from the trees , Confederates once again felled trees in their path , and willow reeds fouled the boats ' paddlewheels . This time the Union boats became immobilized , and Confederate cavalry and infantry threatened to capture them . Sherman sent infantry assistance to repel the Confederates bedeviling Porter , but Porter ' s approach was abandoned as too difficult . Duckport Canal . Grant ' s final attempt was to dig another canal from Duckport Landing to Walnut Bayou , aimed at getting lighter boats past Vicksburg . By the time the canal was almost finished , on April 6 , water levels were declining , and none but the lightest of flatboats could get through . Grant abandoned this canal and started planning anew . From December through March , including Chickasaw Bayou and the Mississippi Central advance , seven initiatives , or " experiments " , by Grant had failed . Grant claimed in his memoirs that he had undertaken these experiments primarily to keep his troops busy during the flooded and disease - laden winter months and that he had had no expectation of success . This claim is contradicted by correspondence from Grant at the time . Plan for the 1863 campaign and initial movements . All of the Bayou Operations were failures , but Grant was known for his stubborn determination and would not quit . His final option was bold but risky : March the army down the west side of the Mississippi , cross the river south of Vicksburg , and either attack Vicksburg from the south and the east or join forces with Banks , capture Port Hudson , and then together reduce Vicksburg . Porter would have to sneak past the guns to get sufficient gunboats and transport ships south of the city . Once they had completed the downstream passage , they would not be able to return past Vicksburg ' s guns because the river current would slow them too much . On March 29 , McClernand set his troops to work building bridges and corduroy road s . They filled in the swamps in their way as well , and by April 17 they had a rough , tortuous 70 - mile ( 110 km ) road from Milliken ' s Bend to the proposed river crossing at Hard Times , Louisiana , below Vicksburg . On April 16 , a clear night with no moon , Porter sent seven gunboats and three empty troop transports loaded with stores to run the bluff , taking care to minimize noise and lights . But the preparations were ineffective . Confederate sentries sighted the boats , and the bluff exploded with massive artillery fire . Fires were set along the banks to improve visibility . The Union gunboats answered back . Porter observed that the Confederates mainly hit the high parts of his boats , reasoned that they could not depress their guns , and had them hug the east shore , right under Confederate cannon , so close he could hear their commanders giving orders , shells flying overhead . The fleet survived with little damage ; thirteen men were wounded and none killed . The " Henry Clay " was disabled and burned at the water ' s edge . On April 22 , six more boats loaded with supplies made the run ; one boat did not make it , though no one was killed — the crew floated downstream on the boat ' s remnants . The final piece of Grant ' s strategy was to divert Pemberton ' s attention from the river crossing site that the Union troops would use . Grant chose two operations : a feint by Sherman against Snyder ' s Bluff , Mississippi , north of Vicksburg ( see the Battle of Snyder ' s Bluff below ) , and a daring cavalry raid through central Mississippi by Col . Benjamin Grierson , known as Grierson ' s Raid . The former was inconclusive , but the latter was a success . Grierson was able to draw out significant Confederate forces to chase him , and Pemberton ' s defenses were dispersed too far around the state . ( Pemberton was also wary of Nathaniel Banks ' s impending advance up the river from Baton Rouge to threaten Port Hudson . ) Opposing forces . Maj . Gen . Ulysses S . Grant ' s Union Army of the Tennessee started the campaign with about 44 , 000 men , which grew by July to 75 , 000 . The army was composed of five corps : the XIII Corps , under Maj . Gen . John A . McClernand ; the XV Corps , under Maj . Gen . William T . Sherman ; the XVII Corps , under Maj . Gen . James B . McPherson ; a three - division detachment of the XVI Corps , under Maj . Gen . Cadwallader C . Washburn ; and a detachment from the District of Northeast Louisiana , under Brig . Gen . Elias S . Dennis . The IX Corps , commanded by Maj . Gen . John G . Parke , joined the army in mid - June . Lt . Gen . John C . Pemberton ' s Confederate Army of Mississippi , approximately 30 , 000 men , consisted of five divisions , under Maj . Gens . William W . Loring , Carter L . Stevenson , John H . Forney , Martin L . Smith , and John S . Bowen . General Joseph E . Johnston ' s forces in Raymond and Jackson , Mississippi , about 6 , 000 men , were elements of his Department of the West , including the brigades of Brig . Gen . John Gray , Col . Peyton H . Colquitt , and Brig . Gen . William H . T . Walker . Battles in Grant ' s Operations against Vicksburg , April – July 1863 . The " Grant ' s Operations against Vicksburg " phase of the Vicksburg Campaign comprises the following battles : Grand Gulf ( April 29 , 1863 ) . Admiral Porter led seven ironclads in an attack on the fortifications and batteries at Grand Gulf , Mississippi , with the intention of silencing the Confederate guns and then securing the area with troops of McClernand ' s XIII Corps who were on the accompanying transports and barges . The attack by the seven ironclads began at 8 a . m . and continued until about 1 : 30 p . m . During the fight , the ironclads moved within 100 yards of the Confederate guns and silenced the lower batteries of Fort Wade ; the Confederate upper batteries at Fort Cobun remained out of reach and continued to fire . The Union ironclads ( one of which , the " Tuscumbia " , had been put out of action ) and the transports drew off . After dark , however , the ironclads engaged the Confederate guns again while the steamboats and barges ran the gauntlet . Grant marched his men overland across Coffee Point to below the Gulf . After the transports had passed Grand Gulf , they embarked the troops at Disharoon ' s plantation and disembarked them on the Mississippi shore at Bruinsburg , below Grand Gulf . The men immediately began marching overland towards Port Gibson , Mississippi . The Confederates had won a hollow victory ; the loss at Grand Gulf caused just a slight change in Grant ' s offensive . Snyder ' s Bluff ( April 29 – May 1 ) . To ensure that troops were not withdrawn to Grand Gulf to assist Confederates there , a combined Union army - navy force feigned an attack on Snyder ' s Bluff . After noon on April 29 , Lt . Cdr . K . Randolph Breese , with his eight gunboats and ten transports carrying Maj . Gen . Francis P . Blair ' s division , inched up the Yazoo River to the mouth of Chickasaw Bayou where they spent the night . At 9 a . m . , the next morning , the force , minus one gunboat , continued upriver to Drumgould ' s Bluff and engaged the enemy batteries . During the fighting , " Choctaw " suffered more than fifty hits , but no casualties occurred . Around 6 p . m . , the troops disembarked and marched along Blake ' s Levee toward the guns . As they neared Drumgould ' s Bluff , a battery opened on them , creating havoc and casualties . The Union advance halted and , after dark , the men reembarked on the transports . The next morning , transports disembarked other troops . The swampy terrain and enemy heavy artillery fire forced them to retire . The gunboats opened fire again , about 3 p . m . on May 1 , causing some damage . Later , the boats ' fire slackened and stopped altogether after dark . Sherman had received orders to land his troops at Milliken ' s Bend , so the gunboats returned to their anchorages at the mouth of the Yazoo . Port Gibson ( May 1 ) . Grant ' s army began marching inland from Bruinsburg . Advancing on the Rodney Road towards Port Gibson , they ran into Confederate outposts after midnight and skirmished with them for around three hours . After 3 a . m . , the fighting stopped . Union forces advanced on the Rodney Road and a plantation road at dawn . At 5 : 30 a . m . , the Confederates engaged the Union advance and the battle ensued . Federals forced the Confederates to fall back . The Confederates established new defensive positions at different times during the day but they could not stop the Union onslaught and left the field in the early evening . This defeat demonstrated that the Confederates were unable to defend the Mississippi River line and the Federals had secured their beachhead . At this point , Grant faced a decision . His original orders were to capture Grand Gulf and then proceed south to link up with Banks and reduce Port Hudson , after which their combined armies would return and capture Vicksburg . Unfortunately for Grant , such a course would put him under the command of the more senior major general and the credit for any success in the theater would go to Banks . Since Banks was occupied with operations on the Red River and had informed Grant that he was not ready to begin operations against Port Hudson within the next few days , Grant decided to move on his own against Vicksburg . He sent a message to Halleck about his intentions , knowing that it would take as many as eight days for Washington to receive the message and respond . After the Union army seized the crossing at Grindstone Ford , any Confederate forces between the Big Bayou Pierre and the Big Black River were compromised . Realizing this , Bowen evacuated Grand Gulf and proceeded with all speed to Hankinson ' s Ford across the Big Black , barely escaping the Union trap . Grant ' s intention at this time was to move north over this same route and advance directly on Vicksburg . However , scouting parties that he sent out found that Pemberton had good defensive positions to the south of the city . Instead , he decided to break the city ' s supply line by seizing the railroad from Jackson to Vicksburg . He gave orders for his three corps ( Sherman having arrived across the river ) to advance over three separate routes to attack the railroad at Edwards Station ( the westernmost objective , with McClernand ' s corps ) , Clinton ( easternmost , with McPherson ' s ) and Midway Station ( center , with Sherman ' s ) . Raymond ( May 12 ) . On May 10 , Pemberton ordered all reinforcements arriving at Jackson to march to Raymond , 20 miles ( 32 km ) to the southwest . Brig . Gen . John Gregg ' s overstrength brigade , having endured a grueling march from Port Hudson , Louisiana , began marching to Raymond the next morning , arriving late in the afternoon of May 11 . On May 12 , Gregg ' s brigade moved to ambush a Union raiding party at Fourteen Mile Creek . The raiding party turned out to be Maj . Gen . John A . Logan ' s Division of the XVII Corps . Gregg decided to dispute the crossing of Fourteen Mile Creek and arrayed his men and artillery accordingly . As the Logan ' s men approached , the Confederates opened fire , initially causing heavy casualties . Some Union troops broke , but Logan rallied a force to hold the line . Confederate troops attacked the line but were forced to retire . Additional Union troops arrived and counterattacked . Heavy fighting ensued that continued for six hours , but the overwhelming Union force prevailed . Gregg ' s men left the field . Although they lost the battle , they had held up a much superior Union force for a day . General Gregg , under orders to withdraw to Jackson in the face of a superior force , withdrew five miles ( 8 km ) in the direction of Jackson to Mississippi Springs , Mississippi . This retrograde movement exposed the Southern Railroad of Mississippi to Union forces , thus severing the lifeline of Vicksburg . Despite McPherson ' s victory , the presence of Confederate forces attacking Grant ' s right flank caused him to reconsider his plan . He learned that Gen . Joseph E . Johnston was due in Jackson with reinforcements within the next couple of days and there was a rumor that Gen . P . G . T . Beauregard would also arrive on the scene . In this situation , the Union army would be between enemy forces on each flank . Therefore , he chose to deal with the threat from the east first and ordered Sherman and McPherson to seize Jackson . Jackson ( May 14 ) . On May 9 , Gen . Johnston received a dispatch from the Confederate Secretary of War directing him to " proceed at once to Mississippi and take chief command of the forces in the field . " When he arrived in Jackson on May 13 from Middle Tennessee , he learned that two army corps — Sherman ' s and McPherson ' s — were advancing on Jackson and that Gregg had only about 6 , 000 troops available to defend the city . Johnston ordered the evacuation of Jackson , but Gregg was to defend Jackson until the evacuation was completed . By 10 a . m . , both Union army corps were near Jackson and had engaged the enemy . Rain , Confederate resistance , and poor defenses prevented heavy fighting until around 11 a . m . , when Union forces attacked in numbers and slowly but surely pushed the enemy back . In mid - afternoon , Johnston informed Gregg that the evacuation was complete and that he should disengage and follow . Soon after , the Union troops entered Jackson and had a celebration hosted by Grant , who had been traveling with Sherman ' s corps , in the Bowman House . They then burned part of the town , destroyed numerous factories , and cut the railroad connections with Vicksburg . Johnston ' s evacuation is seen as a mistake because he could , by late on May 14 , have had 11 , 000 troops at his disposal and by the morning of May 15 , another 4 , 000 . The fall of the Mississippi state capital was a blow to Confederate morale . Having broken the rail links , Grant temporarily abandoned the city to allow his troops to concentrate on Vicksburg . Johnston retreated , with most of his army , up the Canton Road , but he ordered Pemberton to leave Edwards Station and attack the Federals at Clinton . Pemberton and his generals felt that Johnston ' s plan was dangerous and decided instead to attack the Union supply trains moving from Grand Gulf to Raymond . On May 16 , however , Pemberton received another order from Johnston repeating his former directions . Pemberton had already started after the supply trains and was on the Raymond - Edwards Road with his rear at the crossroads one - third mile south of the crest of Champion Hill . Thus , when he ordered a countermarch , his rear , including his many supply wagons , became the vanguard of his force . Champion Hill ( May 16 ) . On May 16 , about 7 a . m . , the Union forces engaged the Confederates and the Battle of Champion Hill began . Pemberton ' s force drew up into a defensive line along a crest of a ridge overlooking Jackson Creek . Pemberton was unaware that one Union column was moving along the Jackson Road against his unprotected left flank . For protection , Pemberton posted Brig . Gen . Stephen D . Lee ' s men atop Champion Hill where they could watch for the reported Union column moving to the crossroads . Lee spotted the Union troops and they soon saw him . If this force was not stopped , it would cut the Confederates off from their Vicksburg base . Pemberton received warning of the Union movement and sent troops to his left flank . Union forces at the Champion House moved into action and emplaced artillery to begin firing . When Grant arrived at Champion Hill , around 10 a . m . , he ordered the attack to begin . By 11 : 30 a . m . , Union forces had reached the Confederate main line and about 1 p . m . , they took the crest while the Confederates retreated in disorder . The Federals swept forward , capturing the crossroads and closing the Jackson Road escape route . One of Pemberton ' s divisions ( Bowen ' s ) then counterattacked , pushing the Federals back beyond the Champion Hill crest before their surge came to a halt . Grant then counterattacked , committing forces that had just arrived from Clinton by way of Bolton . Pemberton ' s men could not stand up to this assault , so he ordered his men from the field to the one escape route still open : the Raymond Road crossing of Bakers Creek . Brig . Gen . Lloyd Tilghman ' s brigade formed the rearguard , and they held at all costs , including the loss of Tilghman . In the late afternoon , Union troops seized the Bakers Creek Bridge , and by midnight , they occupied Edwards . The Confederates were in full retreat towards Vicksburg . Big Black River Bridge ( May 17 ) . The Confederate retreat reached Big Black River Bridge the night of May 16 – 17 . Pemberton ordered Brig . Gen . Bowen , with three brigades , to man the fortifications on the east bank of the river and impede any Union pursuit . Three divisions of McClernand ' s corps moved out from Edwards Station on the morning of May 17 . The corps encountered the Confederates behind breastworks and took cover as enemy artillery began firing . Union Brig . Gen . Michael K . Lawler formed his 2nd Brigade , Brig . Gen . Eugene A . Carr ' s Division , which surged out of a river meander scar , across the front of the Confederate forces , and into the enemy ' s breastworks , held by Brig . Gen . John C . Vaughn ' s inexperienced East Tennessee Brigade . Confused and panicked , the Confederates began to withdraw across the Big Black on two bridges : the railroad bridge and the steamboat dock moored athwart the river . As soon as they had crossed , the Confederates set fire to the bridges , preventing close Union pursuit . The fleeing Confederates who arrived in Vicksburg later that day were disorganized . The Union forces captured approximately 1 , 800 troops at Big Black , a loss that the Confederates could ill afford . Siege of Vicksburg ( May 18 – July 4 ) . The Union army converged on Vicksburg , trapping Pemberton ' s force . Grant attempted two assaults to break through the strong Confederate fieldworks : May 19 and May 22 . The latter assault initially achieved some success in McClernand ' s sector , but it was repulsed with 3 , 200 casualties . Johnston ordered Pemberton to evacuate the city and save his army , but Pemberton thought it impossible to withdraw safely . Johnston planned to attack Grant and relieve Pemberton but was unable to arrange it in time . Grant besieged the Confederate army . On July 4 , after six weeks in which the soldiers and civilians of Vicksburg had no food supplies and were bombarded constantly , Pemberton surrendered the city and his army . In addition to Pemberton at his front , Grant had to be concerned with Confederate forces in his rear . He stationed one division in the vicinity of the Big Black River bridge and another reconnoitered as far north as Mechanicsburg , both to act as a covering force . By June 10 , the IX Corps , under Maj . Gen . John G . Parke , was transferred to Grant ' s command . This corps became the nucleus of a special task force whose mission was to prevent Johnston , gathering his forces at Canton , from interfering with the siege . Sherman was given command of this task force and Brig . Gen . Frederick Steele replaced him at the XV Corps on June 22 . Johnston eventually began moving to relieve Pemberton and reached the Big Black River on July 1 , but he delayed a potentially difficult encounter with Sherman until it was too late for the Vicksburg garrison , and then fell back to Jackson . Louisiana operations . During the Siege of Vicksburg , three other battles took place in the vicinity : Milliken ' s Bend ( June 7 ) . In an effort to cut Grant ' s supply line during the siege , the Confederates attacked the Milliken ' s Bend supply area up the Mississippi . This was mainly defended by untrained black troops , who fought bravely with inferior weaponry and finally fought off the Confederates with help from gunboats , although at significant cost ; the defenders lost 652 to the Confederate 185 . Goodrich ' s Landing ( June 29 – 30 ) . After Union forces began occupying the Louisiana river parishes , thousands of escaped slaves flocked to them . The Federals , therefore , leased some plantations and put the freedmen to work growing cotton or other crops ; the proceeds from the sale of the crops helped defray expenses for food , clothing , etc . African - American troops were assigned to protect these plantations , releasing other troops to fight . Confederates , determined to recapture some of these freedmen and destroy the crops , undertook an expedition from Gaines ' s Landing , Arkansas , to Lake Providence . Although the Confederates disrupted these operations , destroyed much property , and captured many supplies and weapons , the raid was only a minor setback for the Union . The Confederates could cause momentary disturbances , but they were unable to effect any lasting changes . Helena ( July 4 ) . Confederate Lt . Gen . Theophilus H . Holmes ' s troops attacked Helena , Arkansas , in an attempt to relieve pressure on Vicksburg . Although the Confederates had more troops and did initially capture some of the fortifications , the Union forces repelled them . Aftermath . Although the Confederate killed and wounded in the battle and siege of Vicksburg were a relatively small 2 , 872 , and Union 4 , 910 , Grant captured his second Confederate army in its entirety ( the first being at Fort Donelson ) : 29 , 495 surrendered . Most of the Confederates were paroled . The Union also captured significant quantities of artillery , small arms , and ammunition . The full campaign , since March 29 , claimed 10 , 142 Union and 9 , 091 Confederate killed and wounded . This was the second major blow to the Confederacy in the summer of 1863 . On July 3 , Gen . Robert E . Lee ' s invasion of the North collapsed at Gettysburg . On July 4 , the Stars and Stripes rose over Vicksburg . To the Confederates , surrendering on Independence Day was a bitter defeat . Union troops behaved well , mixing with Confederates and giving rations to starving soldiers . Speculators who had been hoarding food for higher prices saw their stores broken open and the contents thrown on the streets for the starving rebels . In his " Personal Memoirs " , Grant observed , " The men of the two armies fraternized as if they had been fighting for the same cause . " But resentments lingered : allegedly tradition holds that the Fourth of July holiday was not celebrated by Vicksburg until World War II . This claim has been challenged and large Fourth of July celebrations were being held by 1907 . The most significant result of the campaign was control of the Mississippi River , which the Union obtained completely after Port Hudson , which had been besieged by Banks since May 27 , heard news of Vicksburg ' s fall and surrendered on July 9 . The Confederacy was now cut in two ; one week later , an unarmed ship arrived in Union - held New Orleans from St . Louis after an uneventful trip down the river . President Lincoln announced , " The Father of Waters again goes unvexed to the sea . " Grant deployed Sherman and 50 , 000 troops against Johnston ' s 31 , 000 in Jackson . Johnston tried to lure Sherman into a frontal assault , but Sherman had seen the results of such at Vicksburg . He demurred and began surrounding the city . Johnston escaped with his army , which was more than Pemberton had achieved , but all of central Mississippi was now under Sherman ' s control . He used a subsequent operation against Meridian , Mississippi , as a precursor for the scorched earth tactics he later employed in his March to the Sea through Georgia , and then South Carolina . One of Grant ' s actions during the siege was to settle a lingering rivalry . On May 30 , General McClernand wrote a self - adulatory note to his troops , claiming much of the credit for the soon - to - be victory . Grant had been waiting six months for him to slip , ever since they clashed early in the campaign , around the Battle of Arkansas Post . Grant finally relieved McClernand on June 18 . McClernand ' s XIII Corps was turned over to Maj . Gen . Edward Ord . In May 1864 , McClernand was restored to a command in remote Texas . Grant was the undisputed victor of the Vicksburg Campaign . He was rewarded for his victory with a promotion to major general in the regular army , effective on July 4 , 1863 . He also received an unusual letter : Grant went on to rescue Union forces besieged at Chattanooga and then replaced Halleck as general in chief of all Union armies , with the recently re - activated rank of lieutenant general . Despite his ultimate success in winning the war , historians have often considered Vicksburg his finest campaign — imaginative , audacious , relentless , and a masterpiece of maneuver warfare . James M . McPherson called Vicksburg " the most brilliant and innovative campaign of the Civil War " ; T . Harry Williams described it as " one of the classic campaigns of the Civil War and , indeed , of military history " ; and the U . S . Army " Field Manual 100 – 5 " ( May 1986 ) called it " the most brilliant campaign ever fought on American soil . " Historian Steven E . Woodworth wrote that Pemberton " had a strong claim to the title of the most hated man in the South , certainly the most hated to wear a Confederate uniform . " There were accusations that adequate supplies had been on hand and that it was only his treachery that caused the surrender . Confederate general Richard Taylor wrote after the war , " He had joined the South for the express purpose of betraying it , and this was clearly proven by the fact that he surrendered on the 4th of July , a day sacred to the Yankees . " The blame for losing Vicksburg fell not only on John Pemberton , but on the overly cautious Joseph E . Johnston . Jefferson Davis said of the defeat , " Yes , from a want of provisions inside and a General outside who wouldn ' t fight . " Anguished soldiers and civilians starving in the siege held hopes that he would come to their aid , but he never did . Accusations of cowardice that had dogged him since the 1862 Peninsula Campaign continued to follow him in the 1864 Atlanta Campaign against Sherman . However , Johnston was far outnumbered . While he was one of few Confederate generals whom Grant respected , he was outgeneraled .