In June 1862, the Union controlled the Mississippi River with the exception of Vicksburg, which was in Confederate hands. The location of the town, partly on high bluffs above the river, made it impossible to move traffic up or down the river without subjecting the boats to withering fire from strong Confederate batteries. This position made it possible to maintain communication lines with Louisiana, which were vital to the Confederacy.

Grant's purpose was to gain complete control of the Mississippi as a waterway and, in doing so, to split the South. In June, Admiral David Farragut sent his fleet of Union gunboats upriver from New Orleans and shelled the town; he was, however, forced to withdraw before taking the city or silencing its guns. General William Tecumseh Sherman, also attempting to take Vicksburg, moved along the west banks of the river, south from Memphis with 30,000 troops. He was repelled. Meanwhile, Grant's supply lines were being broken and harassed by Confederate cavalry.

Grant was now desperate. He had to take Vicksburg. He ordered Admiral David Porter to move his gunboats south from Memphis and to pass Vicksburg at night. The boats were sighted; two transports were lost. The others got through, and Grant, with an army west of the river, now had transportation across the river. Once in Mississippi, the Union army, living off the land, moved around Vicksburg in a series of brilliant diversionary maneuvers that kept the Confederate cavalry busy accomplishing nothing. Grant now took Jackson and moved toward Vicksburg from the east. He attacked the city with three corps, setting the time of attack and synchronizing watches to make sure all attacked together. But his forces were driven back.

Grant was a more modern and committed general than most of the other Union commanders in the war. He would settle for nothing less than total victory, including unconditional surrender of the city of Vicksburg. He realized that to take Vicksburg, the town must be starved; so he surrounded it and laid siege. For 47 days and nights Grant pounded Vicksburg with mortar and cannon fire; and the populace, hiding in caves, nearly starved.

The caves dug by the residents of Vicksburg and the Union army's trenches and tunneling were made easier because the city was built on loess, a wind-blown silt that forms a compacted, but soft, soil. Grant dug tunnels and planted mines under Confederate positions, but only one charge was set off. On July 4, the Confederates agreed to surrender the city. On that day, the South's cause was dealt a mighty blow from which it never recovered.

Modern Vicksburg is nearly surrounded by the Vicksburg National Military Park, which is as much a part of the town as the streets and antebellum houses. Originally an important river port, Vicksburg has a fascinating riverfront along the Mississippi River and the Yazoo Canal. Plan to spend several days; the town offers much to see and do.