The Mississippi River was an important military highway that bordered ten states, roughly equally divided between Union and Confederate loyalties.
Both sides soon realised that control of the river was a crucial strategic priority. Confederate general Braxton Bragg said "The river is of more importance to us than all the country together." [1] In April 1862, the Union secured two key points, New Orleans at the mouth of the river and a double-bend on the Kentucky-Tennessee line, leaving only the middle section in Confederate hands. When the major river-ports of Memphis and Vicksburg fell (followed automatically by Port Hudson), the liberation of the Mississippi was complete, and Abraham Lincoln declared "The Father of Waters again goes unvexed to the sea." [2]
This split the Confederacy in two, with the western half forced to operate as a separate department, the Trans-Mississippi Theater, greatly inhibiting supplies and communications, and tilting the odds decisively in favor of the Union.
Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois were solidly pro-Union, despite some "Copperhead" (Peace Democrat) sentiment in the last-named. [3] Missouri was a slave-state, beset with guerrilla fighting throughout the war, with a Confederate government-in-exile. [4] Kentucky, also a slave-state (and Lincoln's birthplace), was briefly claimed by the Confederacy during a short-lived dual government, but never left the Union. [5] Slave-holding Tennessee was Confederate, though the eastern counties harboured much pro-Union sentiment. [6] Arkansas had initially stayed in the Union, but resented Lincoln's demand for troops, and seceded. [7] Mississippi was deeply Confederate, as was Louisiana, though in the latter case, New Orleans came under a Union government within a Confederate state, following the fall of the city in April 1862.
At the outbreak of war, the Union General-in-Chief, Winfield Scott, proposed an advance down the Mississippi that would cut the Confederacy in two, though the necessary rivercraft had yet to be built. Along with the policy of blockading the entire Southern coastline, the plan was derided as the ‘Anaconda’, slowly constricting the life out of the Confederacy. [8] Most Union generals believed that the war could be won quickly by an early march on Richmond, [9] while the commander in the west, General Henry Halleck, considered the Tennessee River to be more significant than the Mississippi. [10] Also Winfield Scott would soon be retiring. Eventually, however, the strengths of the plan were increasingly recognised, and it became Union strategy.
As the Confederate Navy had to build almost its entire fleet from scratch, [11] [12] its operations on the Mississippi would be largely defensive.
The Confederates had fortified a tight double-bend in the river, with garrisons at New Madrid, Missouri, and Island Number Ten. Union Major-General John Pope arrived unexpectedly, before winter was over, easily took New Madrid, and then ordered two gunboats to run the island batteries, covering his crossing to the east (Tennessee) bank, whereupon the outnumbered enemy surrendered. [13]
Captain David Farragut of the Union Navy's West Gulf Blockading Squadron attacked the city's outer fortifications, Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip, at first obstructed by a defensive boom. When the boom was broken by gunboats, the fleet forced its way in, opposed by ironclads and fire-rafts, eventually enabling the infantry to occupy the city and set up a Union government for the rest of the war. [14]
The Memphis garrison had been much depleted, following the Union capture of the rail junction at Corinth, so the Union fleet was opposed only by Confederate gunboats and rams, poorly equipped, which were destroyed in two hours. One Union boat, Queen of the West, was disabled. The Union forces were able to capture and repair four Confederate craft for their own use. [15]
Confederate area commander Earl Van Dorn had been hoping to re-take Louisiana's abandoned state capital Baton Rouge. A force under Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge attacked at dawn, killing Union commander Thomas Williams, and driving his men into defensive lines, protected by their gunboats. But the Confederate ram CSS Arkansas had broken down and it became a one-sided naval battle, forcing Breckinridge to withdraw. [16]
After several failed initiatives, including an attempt to divert the river itself, General U.S. Grant marched down the west (Louisiana) bank, accompanied by gunboats that managed to run the Vicksburg batteries and ferry his army across to the east bank. From there, he pursued the enemy into their lines and besieged them until they surrendered. [17]
Principal actions:
General Nathaniel Banks had been ordered upstream to aid General U.S. Grant who was besieging Vicksburg. His orders were to capture Port Hudson, the only other remaining Confederate stronghold on the river, but his assault failed, and he settled into a siege - at 48 days, the longest in American history up till then. The eventual Confederate surrender completed the liberation of the river. [22]
This is a list of notable places on the Mississippi River between roughly St. Louis, Mo. and the Gulf of Mexico at the time of the American Civil War, listed from north to south. Where locations are opposite each other at the same point along the River, the westernmost is listed first. [23] Steamboats of the era were fueled by wood (and coal as well) and the wood-fueled steamers burned something like 70 cords of wood per day. [24] Therefore, there were "hundreds of wood yards" along the Mississippi during the steamboat era, "one every several miles on the busiest sections of the river." [25]
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.
The third USS Lexington was a timberclad gunboat in the United States Navy during 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.
The 34th Indiana Veteran Volunteer Infantry Regiment, nicknamed The Morton Rifles, was an Infantry Regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It had the distinction of fighting in the last land action of the war, the Battle of Palmito Ranch, Texas May 12–13, 1865, and also of suffering the last soldier killed during the war, Private John J. Williams.
The 12th Missouri Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was organized by Colonel Peter J. Osterhaus, a veteran of the respected 2nd Missouri Volunteer Infantry. The majority of the soldiers in the 12th were ethnic Germans. This intermixed German-American unit also had a large portion of its ranks filled by volunteers from Illinois.
The 1st Kansas Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. On August 10, 1861, at the Battle of Wilson's Creek, Missouri, the regiment suffered 106 soldiers killed in action or mortally wounded, one of the highest numbers of fatalities suffered by any Union infantry regiment in a single engagement during the American Civil War.
The 96th Ohio Infantry Regiment, sometimes 96th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
4th Ohio Battery was an artillery battery that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 49th Regiment Indiana Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 118th Illinois Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. On June 10, 1863, the regiment was converted to mounted infantry.
The 69th Regiment Indiana Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 108th Illinois Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 46th Regiment Indiana Infantry was a regiment of the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 47th Regiment Indiana Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 16th Regiment Indiana Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. In August 1863, the regiment was converted to mounted infantry for the remainder of the war.
The 30th Missouri Infantry Regiment, also known as the Shamrock Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was a sister unit to the 7th Missouri Infantry Regiment and in 1864 was consolidated with a battalion of veteran volunteers of that regiment and operated as a "demi-brigade" known popularly as the "Missouri Irish Brigade".
The 3rd Missouri Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It arose from a group of volunteers who were active from April to September 1861.
The 60th Regiment Indiana Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 17th Missouri Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 119th Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
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