Triumph and Defeat: The Vicksburg Campaign (review)

Terry Winschel is a nationally recognized authority on the Vicksburg campaign, having become intimately involved with the subject through his work as historian at the Vicksburg National Military Park. This latest collection of his essays underscores the evolution of his approach to the campaign from master of minutiae to perspicacious analysis.

The first three chapters of the book are an overview of U. S. Grant’s inland campaign, but are particularly focused on the Union army’s crossing the Mississippi and winning battle after battle. Winschel calls Union operations Grant’s blitzkrieg, as he led his army northeast and then west into Mississippi. The triumphant moment came when the U.S. flag flew over the state capitol building in Jackson. Winschel, like all good historians, is a master storyteller, and he paints a vivid portrait of Grant’s successes in pushing Confederate forces into Vicksburg, setting up the siege.

The rest of Winschel’s study is topical. First, he defends John McClernand, the obnoxious politician, who, he convincingly argues, was a better soldier than his reputation, then and ever after. Grant allowed McClernand’s corps to lead the march down the Louisiana side of the Mississippi, form the point in Union victory at Port Gibson, and take the dangerous position of left wing as the army marched inland. The author also narrates the strange saga of the USS Cincinnati, a Union gunboat that experienced hard times at Vicksburg, being sunk twice, but ultimately staying active. Winschel’s is an appropriate tribute to a forgotten naval vessel.

The human side of the Vicksburg siege is detailed in the story of the William W. Lord family. Lord, a minister, and his family experienced the unique cave life that so many Vicksburg citizens endured. Winschel then assaults Joseph E. Johnston’s lack of leadership during the campaign. Johnston’s refusal to help the besieged Confederate army makes him, in Winschel’s opinion, “the general who failed to try” (128). The author then turns to the siege of Jackson, in his shortest and least satisfying chapter. While he appreciates the significance of Johnston’s army being harassed into retreat, he does not address such questions as why Johnston decided to turn and fight Jackson and why William T. Sherman did not do more to destroy Johnston’s army.

Perhaps the most controversial chapter is the one in which Winschel attempts to debunk the arguments of Albert Castel and Thomas Connelly (who is not mentioned) that Vicksburg did not matter. Winschel details the Confederate supply situation that he insists made Vicksburg a vital part of the supply line from the Trans-Mississippi to the rest of the Confederacy. The argument is not altogether convincing, since statistics are hard to come by, but Winschel underpins his argument most cogently when he says the town was important because Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis decided it was.

Winschel concludes his essays with a brief history of the Vicksburg National Military Park and the vital roles of men such as campaign veterans William Rigby and Stephen D. Lee in its founding. The establishment of the park is both intriguing and emotional, and its beauty today makes a strong statement about Rigby, Lee, and others who refused to take no for an answer when proposing its creation.

Winschel’s book is an important contribution to western theater historiography. While readers may not agree with all his conclusions, they cannot dismiss the credibility of his arguments and observations. The author has contributed much to the Vicksburg story, and this book is another example of his devotion to spreading the word about the campaign that was a major factor in deciding the outcome of the Civil War.