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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Today in History: "The Father of Waters flows unvexed to the sea" |
| 2007-07-04 |
| The Battle of Vicksburg, or Siege of Vicksburg, was the final significant battle in the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. In a series of skilled maneuvers, Union Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his Army of the Tennessee crossed the Mississippi River and drove the Confederate army of Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton into defensive lines surrounding the fortress city of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Grant besieged the city from May 18 to July 4, 1863, until it surrendered, yielding command of the Mississippi River to the Union. . . . On July 3, Pemberton sent a note to Grant, who, as at Fort Donelson, first demanded unconditional surrender. But Grant reconsidered, not wanting to feed 30,000 hungry Confederates in Union prison camps, and offered to parole all prisoners. Considering their destitute state, dejected and starving, he never expected them to fight again; he hoped they would carry home the stigma of defeat to the rest of the Confederacy. In any event, it would have occupied his army and taken months to ship that many troops north. Surrender was formalized by an old oak tree, "made historical by the event." . . . |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #2 I have visited the memorials lining the site of the battle. Very emotional. 1,000 miles to the east (give or take) the Army of Northern Virginia finds defeat... :(( |
| Posted by: borgboy2001 2007-07-04 20:20 |
| #1 Because the city fell on July 4, 1863, and due to lingering memories of the harshness of the Union force's siege, the people of the city did not celebrate Independence Day for the next 81 years, until 1944. Some people hold a grudge |
| Posted by: Steve 2007-07-04 19:31 |