Champion Hill

Quoting Terrence J. Winschel in the forward to Tim Smith's excellent book, "Champion Hill; the Decisive Battle of Vicksburg", he stated.

Perhaps more significant than any larger or bloodier action of the Civil War, the Battle of Champion Hill was the decisive action of the campaign for Vicksburg, led directly to the fall of the Confederate bastion on the Mississippi River and, truly, sealed the fate of Richmond. Thus the battle that raged on the heights of Champion Hill on May 16, 1863, warrants further investigation.

The key words/phrases are "Perhaps" and "warrants further investigation" as to if this theory is accurate. Smith's book highlights the other smaller, and less known, battles that preceded Champion Hill. It helps to explain how both sides made decisions that would lead to the battle there and resulted in the siege upon Vicksburg.
So Champion Hill may have been the death of Vicksburg and the control of the Mississippi River. The question as to whether the fall of Vicksburg ended the Confederacy is a different debate.
 
Well, it’s all relative, really. One could argue that the Battle of Raymond had as much or more influence than Champion Hill.

I think it's pretty easy to argue that Raymond and Port Gibson were both bigger turning points. Champion Hill saw a major snafu by an entire federal Army Corps. You can't get any more favorable conditions than Grant's army arriving piecemeal below ground of Pemberton's choosing, and then half the army sitting in place all day.

At Raymond and Port Gibson, on the other hand, the Confederates had *so* many opportunities to use the federal movement to their advantage, none of which they took.
 
Raymond in general, and Gregg's aggressiveness in particular, was what convinced Grant to pivot to the right and deal with Johnston's "Army of Relief" before going after Vicksburg. Raymond led to Jackson and ultimately Champion Hill. Had Grant not destroyed the rail center at Jackson, Johnston *may have* more quickly consolidated the reinforcements streaming in and Grant might have found himself "between a rock and a hard place" with only a tenuous line of communication back along the single dirt road to Grand Gulf and Johnston's army on one side and Pemberton's on the other. Even if you're Napoleon, the advantage of "central position" will only take you so far...
 
Quoting Terrence J. Winschel in the forward to Tim Smith's excellent book, "Champion Hill; the Decisive Battle of Vicksburg", he stated.

Perhaps more significant than any larger or bloodier action of the Civil War, the Battle of Champion Hill was the decisive action of the campaign for Vicksburg, led directly to the fall of the Confederate bastion on the Mississippi River and, truly, sealed the fate of Richmond. Thus the battle that raged on the heights of Champion Hill on May 16, 1863, warrants further investigation.

The key words/phrases are "Perhaps" and "warrants further investigation" as to if this theory is accurate. Smith's book highlights the other smaller, and less known, battles that preceded Champion Hill. It helps to explain how both sides made decisions that would lead to the battle there and resulted in the siege upon Vicksburg.
So Champion Hill may have been the death of Vicksburg and the control of the Mississippi River. The question as to whether the fall of Vicksburg ended the Confederacy is a different debate.

Am reading Donald Miller's new book "Vicksburg; Grant's Campaign That Broke the Confederacy." Regarding the battle of Champion Hill, the author writes "It was also the decisive battle of the Civil War, strategically more consequential than Gettysburg,
Antietam, and other great hecatombs in the east."

That is a bold statement to make about Champion Hill and I would like to know whether there is a consensus on that battle's importance. It most certainly was a key battle of the Vicksburg campaign, and probably doomed Pemberton and his army by that point, who in its aftermath chose to withdraw to the Vicksburg entrenchments. But was it alone, of critical importance in the fall of Vicksburg, or was it simply another key component of the campaign. Would other aspects of the campaign such as Grant and Porter's efforts to run the Vicksburg batteries be of equal importance?
 
Am reading Donald Miller's new book "Vicksburg; Grant's Campaign That Broke the Confederacy." Regarding the battle of Champion Hill, the author writes "It was also the decisive battle of the Civil War, strategically more consequential than Gettysburg,
Antietam, and other great hecatombs in the east."

That is a bold statement to make about Champion Hill and I would like to know whether there is a consensus on that battle's importance. It most certainly was a key battle of the Vicksburg campaign, and probably doomed Pemberton and his army by that point, who in its aftermath chose to withdraw to the Vicksburg entrenchments. But was it alone, of critical importance in the fall of Vicksburg, or was it simply another key component of the campaign. Would other aspects of the campaign such as Grant and Porter's efforts to run the Vicksburg batteries be of equal importance?

If I recall from my reading of Miller’s book, he is quoting another historian in making that assertion.

As to Champion Hill’s “importance in the fall of Vicksburg, or was it simply another key component of the campaign”: Certainly, the Rebel defeat at Champion Hill marked the end of Pemberton’s ability to hold the line of the Big Black, which meant he could not hold Snyder’s Bluff, which meant Vicksburg could only be defended by means of a siege or abandoning it in hopes to retaking it later.

This, however, is only gleaned in hindsight. Grant’s 7 divisions failed to destroy Pemberton’s 3, and Loring’s unilateral decision to move southwest instead of rejoining Pemberton at the Big Black Bridge, had as much to do with Vicksburg’s doom as Grant’s actions at Champion Hill. General Logan actually thought it was a defeat at the time, as Grant’s army was running the risk of starvation. Loring’s abandonment of Pemberton’s army after the battle changed all that, giving Grant open access to a new land base north of Vicksburg.

So it’s in hindsight that one sees the battle as a “key component.” Looking back, it signaled the end the romantic stage of Grant’s campaigning and ushered in the quagmire of siege warfare. In essence, the battle has a before and after effect. That’s about it in my estimation.
 
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Champion Hill spelled the defeat of Vicksburg. If Pemberton would've successfully turned Grant's army, he would have crushed the Union attempt to take Vicksburg and essentially destroyed Grant's army from within. The defeat would've forced the Union to abandon the costly attempt to take the Gibralter of the Confederacy.
It all comes back to Vicksburg and Champion Hill.
 
Would other aspects of the campaign such as Grant and Porter's efforts to run the Vicksburg batteries be of equal importance?

I keep coming back to Grant’s response to the battle at Raymond. His decision to abandon the plan to push north against the railroad and pivot east instead, was likely the difference between success and failure. He had no way to know it, but by pivoting east to Jackson, he created his own luck at that very moment.
 
I keep coming back to Grant’s response to the battle at Raymond. His decision to abandon the plan to push north against the railroad and pivot east instead, was likely the difference between success and failure. He had no way to know it, but by pivoting east to Jackson, he created his own luck at that very moment.

Was Grant's eastern pivot to Jackson done to deal with the threat posed by Johnston's force at that place?
 
General Gregg thought he was engaging a Union brigade at Raymond and he fought fiercely and ignorantly because of it. Pemberton had ordered Gregg not to bring on a general engagement. Had Gregg known it was a Corps he would not have engaged. The Yankees assumed that because a force had engaged an entire Union Corp at Raymond, and fought it nearly all day, it was a much larger Rebel force. And more might be out there somewhere. Grant reasoned that he could not initiate his northern advance with such a force on his right rear flank. Thus he cancelled the attack north and pivoted east to disperse or destroy whatever enemy forces might be on his right flank.
 
General Loring's division left the battlefield without engaging McClernand's corp. But he was there and he could see the Confederates had vastly under estimated the size of Grant's army.
Grant had a generally reliable plan that the right thing for Pemberton to do was to slide northward towards Johnston and unite with his force. Grant shaped the battlefield by deflecting the Confederates toward the south, without using Sherman's divisions. This was a great success, but not yet decisive.
When Pemberton waited for Loring to show up, and McClernand first closed on the Confederate position, and Lawler promptly used terrain to launch a successful attack, that allowed Sherman to cross the Big Black uncontested.
Champion's Hill was decisive because McClernand, Lawler, Grant and Sherman hustled to take advantage of it. The entire campaign accelerated between May 11 and May 19, 1863.
 
No one thing was decisive.
Farragut got the Hartford above Port Hudson, with the Albatross. Grant got a coal barge past Vicksburg, and Ellert got one ram below Vicksburg, which made David Porter very angry.
Porter was able to run downstream past Vicksburg by successfully hugging the east bank most of the way.
Once Porter and his gunboats were below Vicksburg, Farragut could return to New Orleans and the Gulf.
Banks had most of the west bank of the Mississippi cleared of Confederates in the vicinity of Port Hudson. McClernand's road builders cleared out the Confederates as far as hard times.
The Hartford and the other boats kept the Red River closed, for the most part.
Grierson's cavalry raid was very successful. Streight's mule mounted raid was at least partially successful. Forrest was not in Mississippi when it would have mattered.
Then Mrs. Peters and her doctor husband ran a little badger game, with a firearm not a demand for money, on Earl Van Dorn, and covert operations took on a new importance.
 
When Grant was able to make an unopposed landing on the Mississippi side of the Mississippi, the Confederates were in a difficult position. Because Grant had experienced Shiloh. In 1863 he had a functioning intelligence system. He had two supportive cavalry raids going on. And he wasn't going to wait for Sherman or for Halleck's meddling. As soon at the rations were issued he was going to expand his position on the east bank and return to Grand Gulf for a proper combined arms battle to take the little town.
 
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