overall: 22 1/2 in x 28 1/4 in; 57.15 cm x 71.755 cm
Object Name:
print
Depicted:
United States: Mississippi, Vicksburg
Date made:
ca 1888
Copyright date:
1888
Description:
Physical Description
Lithographic print.
General History
Both the North and the South saw Vicksburg as the lynchpin to victory in the war. President Abraham Lincoln said: "Vicksburg is the key. The war can never be brought to a close until the key is in our pocket," Confederate President Jefferson Davis said: "Vicksburg is the nail head that holds the South's two halves together." On May 22, 1863, Ulysses Grant sent brigades from three corps of the army to assault the city. While the assault showed some success, a long bitter struggle ensued and the Confederates quickly restored their original lines of defense. The Union army suffered 3,199 casualties, while the Confederates lost less than 500 men. Realizing that the city could not be taken by assault, Grant ordered his engineers to begin siege operations. The siege cut off all supplies going into the city and the constant hammering of siege artillery drove many of the citizens into caves dug into the hillsides. The siege finally ended when on July 4, 1863, General John Pemberton surrendered the town to Grant, thus sealing the fate of the Confederate States of America.