Champion Hill: Decisive Battle for Vicksburg (review)

The American Civil War remains an amazingly popular subject. Yet even among Civil War buffs, few people know very much about the 16 May 1863 battle of Champion Hill. U.S. Grant's victory drove John Pemberton's army back to Vicksburg where its fate was only a matter of time. Arguably, the drums of Champion Hill sounded the death knell of the Confederacy. Timothy B. Smith, a historian with the National Park Service, addresses the void in popular recognition with Champion Hill: Decisive Battle for Vicksburg.

The first 107 pages provide campaign background, the next 254 offer a detailed battle account. One strength of the book is the meticulous research. Another is the cartography, with more than three dozen maps that provide clear, detailed tactical depictions. Such maps are crucial for tactical histories and are too often poorly rendered. Mr. Smith has demonstrated a high standard that others should strive to emulate.

The writing is serviceable. There are some jarring bits: "Pemberton ordered Loring to straddle Lloyd Tilghman's Brigade across the Raymond Road" (p. 145) and "Battle was in the air and these veterans were all too familiar with its unique scent" (p. 149); as well as a certain fondness for cliché, "the crackle and pop of musket fire" (p. 150) and "the heavy burden of command weighed on his shoulders" (p. 152). In addition, there is a problem caused by frequent, potted officer biographies. While General Reynolds's accounting problems during his prewar service as a quartermaster (p. 153) or General Hovey's legal positions in the 1850s (p. 162) may be of some interest, they are not particularly relevant to the action being related and interrupt the narrative flow. Such books as More Generals in Gray provide a valuable resource that too many writers use without restraint.

It is refreshing, however, to read some nicely nuanced, new interpretations. For example, the author exonerates the Union General John McClernand for his caution during the battle whereas most writers castigate the Illinois politician's conduct. Mr. Smith provides clear and logical support for his opinions (full disclosure compels me to note that I too have written a book on the Vicksburg Campaign and Mr. Smith does not find some of my assertions persuasive). Champion Hill concludes with a well-conceived "modern photographic gallery." The photos highlight the extent to which this site has been neglected. Champion Hill is surely the nation's most important unprotected Civil War site. Only two monuments and one tablet mark the battlefield. If it were located in a more urbanized region such as northern Virginia, it would undoubtedly be a crown jewel among national battlefields. A total of 823 acres are owned by the state of Mississippi with another five acres preserved at the Cocker House. However, plans to restore the Cocker House and to create a modern signposted tourist site have been repeatedly delayed in spite of the admirable efforts of local Civil War Roundtables and dedicated historians at the Vicksburg National Military Park. Consequently, as this writer discovered, efforts to walk the ground are frustrated by tangled, overgrown terrain and the barriers of private property. Hopefully, Timothy B. Smith's book will help focus the attention of preservationists and politicians on the need to restore Champion Hill to its legitimate place in the pantheon of Civil War battlefield sites.