The American Civil War remains a grim and awful fascination, not just for historians but for most of us, even after the passage of 160 years. We still find it compelling to read about and discuss various strategies and battles or the wiles of both Union and Confederate generals (many of whom had been friends as students at West Point) or acts of incredible bravery by ordinary soldiers and private citizens on both sides.
The campaign by Union General Ulysses Grant to capture Vicksburg, Mississippi in the spring of 1863, was a hard-won and incredibly costly success but it gave the North control of the entire Mississippi River. It was, ultimately, the key to winning the war because it split the Confederacy in half. At the time, it was a foregone conclusion that Grant would put that key in President Lincoln’s pocket but the Confederates had other plans.
It soon became huge thorn in Grant’s side and it was only removed at a high price. It was named the Stockade Redan, an earthen fortress guarding the approach into Vicksburg, and it stood starkly in the path of his anticipated victory. And it kept standing there despite Grant’s ordering Union forces to throw everything they had at it.
This little earthwork fort was a bulwark manned by only 300 soldiers standing against virtually the whole Federal Army. It recalls the 300 who fought against the Persians with Spartan king, Leonidas, at the Battle of Thermopylae. There were two unsuccessful attacks made against it; on May 19 and May 22, 1863, resulting in a 2-day loss of 4,100 Union soldiers killed, wounded or missing.
After the first brutal repulse, Grant, reeling in frustration, became visibly agitated. He was a fighter and had been denied what he thought would be a quick victory. He had the odds decidedly in his favor, after all, with the rule being a three-to-one advantage of an attacker over a defending force. He saw that fort as a personal insult and became obsessed with smashing it.
Moreover, the army of Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston was also on the loose in Mississippi and Grant feared that he might attack from the opposite direction. He felt the need to move quickly.
On May 21, the now furious Grant called for an even greater number of men to storm the position and brought up 220 Union artillery pieces, all focused on the Stockade Redan. They fired these guns throughout the night but, unbelievably, with little effect.
Even with a greatly amplified force, Grant’s army was unable to avoid being pushed back. He immediately issued his commanders new orders to “reform your men and press on and take that redan”.
At the base of the fort was a ditch 8-feet wide and it was being filled with the bodies of blue-coated, dead and dying men. Confederates were tossing grenades and rolling charges down the embankment. Their sharpshooters continued picking off advancing U.S. troops. For the moment Grant was licked and he knew it.
At the realization of that fact, Grant made the obvious decision to besiege the city. It would remain in that circumstance for 47 almost unendurable days. With daily shelling, citizens were forced to live inside dugout shelters in cliffs around the city and were reduced to eating dogs, mules, snakes and even rats. The city probably stank like a modern-day landfill. And it was the middle of summer!
The rush towards the redan on the morning of July 22, was preceded by a group of unarmed volunteers, jogging double-time and carrying logs, ladders and planks by which it was hoped they could form a bridge across the ditch and open access to the parapet. This unsuccessful effort was named “The Forlorn Hope” and it cost 19 men killed and 34 wounded.
Keep in mind that “wounded” usually meant something horrific. Musket balls were approximately the same dimension then as the later .50 caliber bullets now and they were capable of taking off an arm or making a leg a candidate for amputation.
The Confederate army suffered 3,202 killed and wounded. The Union lost 4,835, of which no less than 4,141 took place during those two attacks against the Stockade Redan, meaning those two attacks accounted for 85 % of all Union losses at Vicksburg.
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