TAKEN FOR GRANT-ED
In 1863, two of the most pivotal Union victories of the Civil War were raging on opposite sides of the country divided. The Battle of Gettysburg in the Northeast, under the command of Union General Meade, prevented a Confederate invasion in a three day battle initiated by General Lee’s troops who blundered upon the Union cavalry in Southern Pennsylvania. Gettysburg is considered by many to be the quintessential Civil War battle and one of the greatest ever fought. But this brief, unplanned slaughter of Confederate troops was nowhere near as tactically exciting as General Grant’s expertly drawn Vicksburg Campaign. Though far from his only military success, the bold planning and masterful execution Grant displayed at Vicksburg, makes him deserving of the title Greatest General of the Civil War.
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Vicksburg was one of the last Confederate strongholds along the Mississippi River which bisected the Confederacy, and a crucial city for securing Union supply lines across the continent. Much of the war in the West was won under the leadership of Grant, who knew the importance of securing inland waterways as a key to success, but his work was often forgotten amidst the battles raging closer to the capital that were more pressing to the security of the Union. The West seemed remote and of little consequence to Northern civilians who were being swept directly into battles like that at Gettysburg. In order to make a legendary name for himself, Grant would have to plan a campaign so innovative that his contributions could not be ignored, and he did exactly that at Vicksburg. Grant had been thwarted by Vicksburg in the past, but instead of giving up and allowing his enemies to fight another day as some of his contemporaries may have considered, such as the notoriously battle-timid George McClellan, he dug in and outlined one of the most ambitious campaigns in military history. Previous plans, including attacking from the marshes and tributary rivers north of Vicksburg and attempting to construct a canal a la General Pope’s Island Number 10 strategy, proved tedious and unsuccessful. Thus, Grant proposed a daring movement of troops, artillery, and gunships south of Vicksburg. This plan relied on complete trust and cooperation from Grant’s subordinate officers, and the friendship and respect Grant shared with men like General Sherman proved indispensable in executing the campaign.
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Vicksburg was neither quick nor easy to capture. Grant carried out a dynamic, multi-faceted process to finally secure Vicksburg and the Mississippi River for the Union. The first step involved running a fleet of eight gunboats down the river past Vicksburg to position them for an attack from the south along with the rest of Grant’s troops. In a risky nighttime maneuver, Grant passed the gunboats just under the nose of the Confederate forces at Vicksburg, keeping them close to the bluffs where the reach of Confederate artillery was limited. Seven of the eight gunboats floated safely down river, securing superior firepower for the Union’s building attack. While the gunboats were sneaking past Vicksburg, Grant was leading his troops on a grueling 75 mile march behind enemy lines, sweeping a path of destruction from Bruinsburg to Jackson. With Grant leading raids quickly and effectively through Southern and Eastern Mississippi and Sherman feigning an attack in the Northeast, the Confederates could only guess from where the next attack would come. Grant finally worked his troops within range of Vicksburg, and high off the success of his actions thus far, led a direct assault on the Confederate stronghold. Grant was initially repulsed, but quickly established a siege of the city as reinforcements shipped down from the Union. After nearly two months, 37,000 Confederate soldiers surrendered the city on the Fourth of July, 1863, and Grant claimed the victory of Vicksburg at long last.
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If the impressive history of Grant’s Vicksburg Campaign is not enough, two main principles of war fully embodied by Grant in this campaign ought to secure his greatness. First, Grant was able to steal the advantage that the Confederates held for most of the war by claiming the interior lines of operation. Placing his troops at the central hub of the action, Grant was able to put forth the full concentration of his forces at each of the battles leading up to Vicksburg, in order to hold the numerical advantage despite being outnumbered by Confederate troops in the area as a whole. To do this, Grant and his troops had to live within enemy territory, cutting themselves off from the comfort of Union supply lines that would have reached them north of Vicksburg. Grant taught his disconnected troops to live off the land, foraging and pillaging food from fields and homesteads across Mississippi to survive. Not only was the presence of Union troops thriving in Southern territory unnerving to civilians, it gave them the tactical advantage of being quicker to the fight from the interior line. This second principle of unprecedented speed earned Grant as many critics as it did admirers. Grant pushed his troops all over Mississippi leading up to Vicksburg, never keeping them tied down in one place for long lest the Confederates reinforce the area and catch them outmanned. In the process, Grant left behind many dead and wounded in favor of forging ahead, clearing the area of pockets of Confederate troops, and freeing and recruiting former slaves which further grew his numbers and prepared him for his final siege. Ultimately, leaving behind casualties was a necessary evil that allowed Grant to conquer much of Mississippi in a short period of time. These two unorthodox methods set Grant apart from the rest of the Union generals in daring, determined, and unwavering leadership.
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Though Vicksburg will never receive the same press or praise as Gettysburg, it has earned Grant the overwhelming respect of countless military tacticians, historians, and Civil War enthusiasts. No other general but Grant would have been valiant enough to pull off such an sophisticated campaign. Vicksburg was far from Grant’s only military success, though it was the greatest. From Chattanooga to Missionary Ridge and the Overland Campaign, “Unconditional Surrender” Grant turned the war in the West into a war of attrition that, despite their homefield advantage, the Confederates eventually lost. Grant’s prowess as a military strategist was unmatched in his time, and he has few peers in the swells of military history even today.