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The Vicksburg siege considered as a problem in military engineering
Solonick, Justin S
Solonick, Justin S
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[Fort Worth, Tex.] : Texas Christian University,
Date
2013
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Abstract
The Vicksburg siege proved the most important event of the most important campaign of the Civil War. It not only placed the vital Mississippi River back in Federal hands but signaled the death knell of the Confederacy. The fall of Vicksburg, severed the Confederacy into two parts along the Father of Waters, elevated the career of Ulysses S. Grant, and allowed Washington authorities for the first time to foresee the end of a bloody conflict that had already dragged beyond what many thought would be a quick war. The Confederate defenses protecting the city of Vicksburg were the final obstacle standing between Union victory and the successful secession of the southern slave empire. Since late 1862, Union forces had been struggling to wrestle the Mississippi River from Confederate hands.^After prosecuting a series of unsuccessful attempts to strike Vicksburg (the primary Confederate citadel controlling the river) from the north Grant decided in March 1863 to cross the Mississippi below the Rebel stronghold and attack from the eastern, landward side. After many weeks of hard campaigning that included traversing swamps and fighting five pitched battles, Grant's troops found themselves just outside the fortress city on May 22. The weary but successful Federal troops comprising the Army of the Tennessee, flushed with victory from their blitzkrieg through Mississippi, attempted to storm the Confederate defenses. They failed. For the first time in their careers, picks and spades replaced rifles and cartridge boxes as these hardened western veterans prepared to wage the largest siege in American history. One problem remained. Grant's army, though experienced, contained a deficient engineering component.^Despite this shortcoming, the Army of the Tennessee with its virtually nonexistent engineering arm proved able to wage the largest siege in American history. This dissertation argues that the success of the Vicksburg siege resulted from the harmonious marriage of formal West Point engineering expertise in the tradition of Vauban, as interpreted by Dennis Hart Mahan, with western soldier ingenuity and improvisation.
Contents
Subject
Subject(s)
United States. Army of the Tennessee.
Siege warfare Mississippi Vicksburg.
Fortification.
Vicksburg (Miss.) History Siege, 1863.
Mississippi History Civil War, 1861-1865.
United States History Civil War, 1861-1865 Campaigns.
Military engineering.
Siege warfare Mississippi Vicksburg.
Fortification.
Vicksburg (Miss.) History Siege, 1863.
Mississippi History Civil War, 1861-1865.
United States History Civil War, 1861-1865 Campaigns.
Military engineering.
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Dissertation
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History