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Writer's pictureJeff Epps

Heritage Travel Campaign-Part 21 (Vicksburg National Military Park)


Part 21 of my "Heritage" travel campaign.


I left Nottoway Plantation in Louisiana and followed the Mississippi River north, and crossed it traveling east into Vicksburg, Mississippi. https://visitvicksburg.com/


The Siege of Vicksburg was a very crucial campaign in the American Civil War, as it was the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River. The campaign lasted from May 18th to July 4th, 1863. https://www.history.com/…/american-ci...


Vicksburg fell into the hands of General Ulysses S. Grant and the Union Army on July 4th, 1863, one day after the Battle of Gettysburg was won by General George Meade, who defeated General Robert E. Lee. The Siege of Vicksburg was a lopsided affair, as Confederate casualties (killed, wounded, captured, or missing) vastly outnumbered those of the Union casualties with about 33,000 and 5,000, respectfully. General John A. Logan and his Illinois troops proved worthy at Vicksburg, as they did in many other battles, earning nearly 100 Illinois soldiers the Medal of Honor (throughout the entire War). There is an Illinois Memorial on the Union lines to commemorate the Illinois contributions at Vicksburg. https://www.nps.gov/…/…/historycultur...


The Siege of Vicksburg completed Union General Winfield Scott's grandiose Anaconda Plan, which was a tactical plan to seize all major Confederate ports and to squeeze the Confederate economy and cripple the Confederate war effort, to further push the South into submission.


With both the loss of Vicksburg and the defeat at Gettysburg, this was a severe blow to Southern morale and also hiked prices on goods and services throughout the South, as imports and exports were impeded.


The Union victory at Vicksburg gave the Union control of the Mississippi River, thus cutting the Confederacy in half, and helping to tilt the Civil War toward the Union's favor. The Siege of Vicksburg, along with the Battle of Gettysburg, marked the beginning of the end of the American Civil War.

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