Vicksburg In The Union Army

The Battle of Vicksburg is well-known to be a turning point in the Civil war due to the fact that it disabled the Confederate Army beyond a point in which they could feasibly recover. When researching this battle, note that the Union Army secured the Mississippi River, a key thoroughfare for whomever held it. History and military history research papers can give an overview of the battle, of the city of Vicksburg itself or any other aspect of the Civil War you need focused on. The possible topics that are related to the Civil War and Vicksburg include the following:

• The importance of the Mississippi River and Vicksburg
• The State of Mississippi and its strategic location
• The town of Vicksburg
• Grant and Vicksburg
• Outline the 47 days of Grant's siege of Vicksburg

Grant's tenacity was exhibited in full measure during the protracted campaign to take Vicksburg. This was a campaign in which the terrain was such as to make any decisive, single stroke next to impossible. Grant's approach to the problems posed by Vicksburg was to try any and all expedients that had a chance of yielding success. At one point he put his army on gunboats and ran it past the Vicksburg artillery. He also cut his army loose from his supply train. These were risky moves and they succeeded. Grant consistently showed a kind of moral courage, a willingness to assume the grave responsibility inherent in the making of hazardous moves. When some of his risks ended in disaster, he was vilified in the press and there were several times during the war when politicians and pundits were calling for his head. This did not deter him from taking the next risk.

Where McClellan was always finding reasons not to move, Grant consistently displayed an impatience to get at the enemy. He also displayed a willingness-and an ability-to make the most of scant resources. Lincoln once said to General Sickles, a union general, "I kind of like U.S. Grant. He doesn't worry and bother me. He isn't shrieking for reinforcements all the time. He takes what troops we can safely give himand does as best he can with what he's got (quoted in Smith,168)." This was in stark contrast to McClellan who, more than once, refused to move before being reinforced, refused to move even when he had a comfortable superiority, in terms of men and materiel, over his opponent.