Battle of Vicksburg Archives

Battle of Vicksburg

Big Black River

By Kirk Freeman

Big battles make the history books. But for the soldiers, it was often the smaller, fiercer fights they remembered most keenly later in their lives. Read more

Battle of Vicksburg

Sealing Vicksburg’s Fate

By Lawrence Weber

During the Civil War, the strategic importance of Vicksburg, Mississippi, was readily apparent to both the Union and the Confederacy. Read more

Bedraggled soldiers and shell-shocked residents watch as Union troops march into Vicksburg on July 4, 1863. Though they were triumphant, the Yankees were not in the mood for celebration once they saw the condition of Vicksburg’s soldiers and citizens.

Battle of Vicksburg

The citizens of Vicksburg would scarcely remember a more beautiful evening. The sky on April 16, 1863, was cloudless, and as the ruddy glow of twilight faded, the vast expanse was speckled with stars. Read more

Battle of Vicksburg

William T. Sherman: A Hard Lesson in War

By Arnold Blumberg

With the fall of Vicksburg in the first week of July 1863, the strongest remaining Confederate presence in Mississippi was a recently thrown together force of 26,000 soldiers under General Joseph E. Read more