Well, it’s all relative, really. One could argue that the Battle of Raymond had as much or more influence than 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.
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?
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.
Timothy Smith talk on Champion Hill:
Yepwas Champion Hill the death of the Confederacy.