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Siege of Vicksburg 1863

Thure de Thulstrup - Siege of Vicksburg - Assault on Fort Hill
Image: Thure de Thulstrup, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.

Key facts

Date18 May 1863 – 4 July 1863Wikidata
Year1863Wikidata P580 (start time)
Era19th century (1800–1913)derived from year
LocationUnited StatesNatural Earth (modern borders)
ContinentNorth AmericaNatural Earth
War / conflictAmerican Civil WarWikidata P361
Coordinates32.3436, -90.8511Wikidata P625

About the battle

The siege of Vicksburg (May 18 – July 4, 1863) was the final major military action in the Vicksburg campaign of the American Civil War. In a series of maneuvers, Union major general Ulysses S. Grant and his Army of the Tennessee crossed the Mississippi River and drove the Confederate Army of Mississippi, led by Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton, into the defensive lines surrounding the fortress city of Vicksburg, Mississippi, leading to the successful siege and Confederate surrender.

Vicksburg was the last major Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River; therefore, capturing it completed the second part of the Northern strategy, the Anaconda Plan. When two major assaults against the Confederate fortifications, on May 19 and 22, were repulsed with heavy casualties, Grant decided to besiege the city beginning on May 25. After holding out for more than 40 days, with their supplies nearly gone, the garrison surrendered on July 4. The Vicksburg campaign's successful ending significantly degraded the Confederacy's ability to maintain its war effort. This action, combined with a siege that led to the surrender of the downriver Port Hudson to Major General Nathaniel P.

Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Siege of Vicksburg (revision 1380705171), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.

Location

32.3436, -90.8511 · United States

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Nearby battles

Other battles of the American Civil War

All 498 battles of the American Civil War →

Browse more: battles in United States · North America · 19th century battles

Further reading