Battle of Snyder's Bluff

Last updated
Battle of Snyder's Bluff
Part of the American Civil War
DateApril 29 – May 1, 1863 (1863-04-29 1863-05-01)
Location 32°29′47″N90°48′00″W / 32.4964°N 90.8000°W / 32.4964; -90.8000 Coordinates: 32°29′47″N90°48′00″W / 32.4964°N 90.8000°W / 32.4964; -90.8000
Result Confederate victory
Belligerents
Flag of the United States (1863-1865).svg United States (Union) Flag of the Confederate States of America (1863-1865).svg CSA (Confederacy)
Commanders and leaders
William T. Sherman Louis Hébert
Units involved
XV Corps
Mississippi River Squadron
Hébert's Brigade
Strength
1 division
8 gunboats
10 transports
1 brigade
Casualties and losses
unknown unknown

The Battle of Snyder's Bluff or Snyder's Mill [1] was fought from April 29 to May 1, 1863, during the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. Union forces under Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman conducted a feint against Confederate units holding the bluff, which was easily repelled.

Contents

Grant's Operations against Vicksburg
.mw-parser-output .legend{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .legend-color{display:inline-block;min-width:1.25em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25;margin:1px 0;text-align:center;border:1px solid black;background-color:transparent;color:black}.mw-parser-output .legend-text{}
Confederate
Union Vicksburg Campaign April-July 1863.pdf
Grant's Operations against Vicksburg
  Confederate
  Union

Battle

Map of Snyder's Bluff Battlefield core and study areas by the American Battlefield Protection Program. Snyder's Bluff Battlefield Mississippi.jpg
Map of Snyder's Bluff Battlefield core and study areas by the American Battlefield Protection Program.

To ensure that troops were not withdrawn to Grand Gulf to assist Confederates there, a combined Union ArmyNavy force feigned an attack on Snyder's Bluff, Mississippi. After noon on April 29, Lt. Cdr. K. Randolph Breese, with his eight gunboats and ten transports carrying Maj. Gen. Francis Blair's division, inched up the Yazoo River to the mouth of Chickasaw Bayou where they spent the night. At 9 a.m. the next morning, the force, minus one gunboat, continued upriver to Drumgould's Bluff and engaged the enemy batteries. During the fighting, the Choctaw suffered more than fifty hits, but no casualties occurred. Around 6 p.m., the troops disembarked and marched along Blake's Levee toward the guns. As they neared Drumgould's Bluff, a battery opened on them. The Union advance halted and, after dark, the men reembarked on the transports. The next morning, transports disembarked other troops. The swampy terrain and enemy heavy artillery fire forced them to retire. The gunboats opened fire again, about 3 p.m. on May 1, causing some damage. Later, the boats' fire slackened and stopped altogether after dark. Sherman had received orders to land his troops at Milliken's Bend, so the gunboats returned to their anchorages at the mouth of the Yazoo.

Notes

  1. "Report of Brigadier General Louis Hebert, C S Army". Ohio State University. Retrieved 29 April 2016.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Vicksburg</span> Battle of the American Civil Wars Anaconda Plan

The siege of Vicksburg was the final major military action in the Vicksburg campaign of the American Civil War. In a series of maneuvers, Union Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his Army of the Tennessee crossed the Mississippi River and drove the Confederate Army of Mississippi, led by Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton, into the defensive lines surrounding the fortress city of Vicksburg, Mississippi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Fort Stedman</span> 1865 battle of the American Civil War in Petersburg, Virginia

The Battle of Fort Stedman, also known as the Battle of Hare's Hill, was fought on March 25, 1865, during the final weeks of the American Civil War. The Union Army fortification in the siege lines around Petersburg, Virginia, was attacked in a pre-dawn Confederate assault by troops led by Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon. The attack was the last serious attempt by Confederate troops to break the Siege of Petersburg. After an initial success, Gordon's men were driven back by Union troops of the IX Corps commanded by Maj. Gen. John G. Parke.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vicksburg campaign</span> 1862–63 American Civil War campaign in Mississippi

The Vicksburg campaign was a series of maneuvers and battles in the Western Theater of the American Civil War directed against Vicksburg, Mississippi, a fortress city that dominated the last Confederate-controlled section of the Mississippi River. The Union Army of the Tennessee under Major General Ulysses S. Grant gained control of the river by capturing this stronghold and defeating Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton's forces stationed there.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atlanta campaign</span> Military campaign during the American Civil War

The Atlanta campaign was a series of battles fought in the Western Theater of the American Civil War throughout northwest Georgia and the area around Atlanta during the summer of 1864. Union Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman invaded Georgia from the vicinity of Chattanooga, Tennessee, beginning in May 1864, opposed by the Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston.

USS <i>Lexington</i> (1861) US Navy timberclad warship

The third USS Lexington was a timberclad gunboat in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Kennesaw Mountain</span> 1864 battle of the American Civil War

The Battle of Kennesaw Mountain was fought on June 27, 1864, during the Atlanta Campaign of the American Civil War. It was the most significant frontal assault launched by Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman against the Confederate Army of Tennessee under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, ending in a tactical defeat for the Union forces. Strategically, however, the battle failed to deliver the result that the Confederacy desperately needed—namely a halt to Sherman's advance on Atlanta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Belmont</span> Battle of the American Civil War

The Battle of Belmont was fought on November 7, 1861 in Mississippi County, Missouri. It was the first combat test in the American Civil War for Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, the future Union Army general in chief and eventual U.S. president, who was fighting Major General Leonidas Polk. Grant's troops in this battle were the "nucleus" of what would become the Union Army of the Tennessee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Allatoona</span> Battle of the American Civil War

The Battle of Allatoona, also known as the Battle of Allatoona Pass, was fought October 5, 1864, in Bartow County, Georgia, and was the first major engagement of the Franklin-Nashville Campaign of the American Civil War. A Confederate division under Maj. Gen. Samuel G. French attacked a Union garrison under Brig. Gen. John M. Corse, but was unable to dislodge it from its fortified position protecting the railroad through Allatoona Pass.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bermuda Hundred campaign</span> Part of the American Civil War in Virginia

The Bermuda Hundred campaign was a series of battles fought at the town of Bermuda Hundred, outside Richmond, Virginia, during May 1864 in the American Civil War. Union Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler, commanding the Army of the James, threatened Richmond from the east but was stopped by forces under Confederate Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Franklin–Nashville campaign</span> 1864 Confederate offensive during the American Civil War

The Franklin–Nashville campaign, also known as Hood's Tennessee campaign, was a series of battles in the Western Theater, conducted from September 18 to December 27, 1864, in Alabama, Tennessee, and northwestern Georgia during the American Civil War.

The Battle of Port Gibson was fought near Port Gibson, Mississippi, on May 1, 1863, between Union and Confederate forces during the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. The Union Army was led by Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, and was victorious.

The Meridian campaign or Meridian expedition took place from February 3 – March 6, 1864, from Vicksburg, Mississippi to Meridian, Mississippi, by the Union Army of the Tennessee, led by Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman. Sherman captured Meridian, Mississippi, inflicting heavy damage to it. The campaign is viewed by historians as a prelude to Sherman's March to the Sea in that a large swath of damage and destruction was inflicted on Central Mississippi as Sherman marched across the state and back.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Chickasaw Bayou</span> 1862 battle of the American Civil War

The Battle of Chickasaw Bayou, also called the Battle of Walnut Hills, fought December 26–29, 1862, was the opening engagement of the Vicksburg Campaign during the American Civil War. Confederate forces under Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton repulsed an advance by Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman that was intended to lead to the capture of Vicksburg, Mississippi.

USS <i>Marmora</i> (1862) Gunboat of the United States Navy

USS Marmora was a sternwheel steamer that served in the Union Navy during the American Civil War. Marmora was built in 1862 at Monongahela, Pennsylvania, as a civilian vessel. Purchased for military service on September 17, she was converted into a tinclad warship. Commissioned on October 21, the vessel served on the Yazoo River beginning the next month. She encountered Confederate naval mines on the Yazoo on December 11, and was present the next day when the ironclad USS Cairo was sunk by two mines. After further service on the Yazoo during the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou in late December, Marmora was assigned in January 1863 to a fleet that was preparing to operate against Confederate Fort Hindman, but was not present when the fort surrendered on January 11.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Georgia Landing</span> Battle of the American Civil War

The Battle of Georgia Landing was fought October 27, 1862 in Labadieville, Assumption Parish, Louisiana, as part of the Operations in LaFourche District (1862), during the American Civil War.

USS <i>Linden</i> Union Navy (US) sidewheel steamship

USS Linden was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Navy to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Suffolk</span> Action of the American Civil War

The siege of Suffolk, also known as the Battle of Suffolk, took place from April 11 to May 4, 1863, near Suffolk, Virginia during the American Civil War.

The Pointe Coupee Artillery was a Confederate Louisiana artillery unit in the American Civil War made up primarily of men from the parishes of Pointe Coupee, East Baton Rouge, Livingston and other surrounding parishes as well as a large number of men from New Orleans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Yazoo City</span> Battle of the American Civil War

The Battle of Yazoo City was an engagement in Mississippi during a month-long Union expedition up the Yazoo River in the American Civil War. The Union force commanded by Colonel James Henry Coates repulsed an attack led by Confederate Brigadier General Lawrence Sullivan Ross. The Union force suffered greater losses and withdrew down the river the next day with a large amount of cotton seized or bought from plantations along the river. The expedition was undertaken in cooperation with Major General William Tecumseh Sherman's Meridian campaign.

The Mississippi was an important military highway that bordered ten states, roughly equally divided between Union and Confederate loyalties.

References