* Early in the US Civil War, the Union devised a general plan to subdue the Southern Confederacy -- one component being a coastal blockade to cut the South off from foreign support, the other being a drive down the Mississippi River. Taking control of the Mississippi would cut the Confederacy in half, and also re-open commerce down the river to the Gulf of Mexico. The upper and lower reaches of the Mississippi quickly fell under Union control -- but the city of Vicksburg, Mississippi, the linchpin of Confederate control of the river, proved a tougher nut to crack.
From the summer of 1862 Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant conducted a year-long campaign to capture the city, and gain full control over the Mississippi. This document provides a history of the Vicksburg campaign. A list of illustration credits is included at the end.
