The Vicksburg Campaign, March 29–May 18, 1863

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Major General Ulysses S. Grant ended a winter of deadlock outside Vicksburg by unleashing a fast-moving campaign that became the Civil War’s most masterful demonstration of the operational art. Library of Congress Confederate Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton, a northerner by birth who seemed to have neither much experience nor aptitude for command, was charged with defending Vicksburg but proved no match for Grant and his spring campaign. Library of Congress Union Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter commanded the Union gunboat flotilla that provided vital support to Grant’s campaign. Library of Congress Union Colonel Benjamin H. Grierson led a cavalry raid that helped distract Pemberton as Grant’s campaign began to unfold. Library of Congress A contemporary illustrator from Harper’s Weekly made this print from J. R. Hamilton’s sketch of Grierson’s troopers riding triumphantly through Baton Rouge on May 2, 1863, at the conclusion of their raid. Harper’s Weekly Confederate Brigadier General John S. Bowen used highly advantageous terrain to put up a stiff but ultimately unsuccessful defensive fight against Grant’s advance at Port Gibson. Library of Congress Confederate Brigadier General John Gregg thought he would surprise a lone Union brigade near Raymond, Mississippi, but he was the one surprised when the column he struck turned out to be the entire Federal Seventeenth Corps. Library of Congress Union Major General James B. McPherson commanded the Seventeenth Corps. Library of Congress Artist Theodore R. Davis sketched the Battle of Raymond for the June 13, 1863, edition of Harper’s Weekly magazine. Harper’s Weekly Musician Alfred E. Mathews, of the 31st Ohio Regiment, was serving on detached duty with Grant’s army when he made this sketch depicting the charge of Sandborn’s and Boomer’s brigades at the Battle of Jackson, Mississippi. Library of Congress Union Major General William Tecumseh Sherman was Grant’s chief lieutenant and commander of the Fifteenth Corps throughout the campaign, including the assault on Jackson. Library of Congress Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston failed to assist Pemberton in the decisive struggle for control of the interior of Mississippi. Library of Congress Union Major General John A. McClernand was the most difficult of Grant’s subordinates and remains controversial to the present day. Library of Congress ...