Vicksburg Trivia Questions

[tony_gunter]

I tried this on Facebook and nobody even attempted to answer.

Totally Random Vicksburg Campaign Trivia:

Before Grant could fight the Confederates, he first had to wrestle with Federal High Command decisions and Mother Nature herself.

1) What command decision did Grant contend with and what are some ways it inadvertently aided him?


2) Grant's men landed across from Vicksburg and found themselves struggling for space against the rising water. Was the river particularly high, if not what was the source of the rising water?


3) Grant sent for a regiment of engineers to assess the viability of a canal across the peninsula opposite Vicksburg, but they did not arrive in time. Had this been accomplished elsewhere in the war, and if so was there a connection to these engineers?

 

[Mississippian1861]

3. I'm assuming you mean the Bissell's Engineer Regiment and their canal around New Madrid. But some of them were already with Grant as early as February 1863. Plus there was a company of Kentucky Engineers attached to the 13th Corps.

 

[tony_gunter]

3. I'm assuming you mean the Bissell's Engineer Regiment and their canal around New Madrid. But some of them were already with Grant as early as February 1863. Plus there was a company of Kentucky Engineers attached to the 13th Corps.

Bingo! But the first two companies didn't arrive until February 12th, by which time Captain Prime had already drawn up the plans for the second canal, begun the digging, and didn't want to start over.

 

[huskerblitz]

Is the answer, it's Lincoln's fault? I know that has to be the answer to one of them. I just know it.

 

[tony_gunter]

Is the answer, it's Lincoln's fault? I know that has to be the answer to one of them. I just know it.

Of course not, we all know Lincoln was divine not human and always made perfect decisions. But the obvious answer to #1 was that Grant had to contend with being the department commander in overall command of McClernand's river campaign as authorized by Lincoln.

How did this inadvertently aid Grant? One is pretty obvious, the second can be derived by thinking of McClellan in March 1862 and his relationships with Irvin McDowell, Edwin Sumner, Samuel Heintzelman, and Erasmus Keyes.

 

[Mississippian1861]

Well Grant and Halleck took a good chunk of the new levies that McClernand had raised and gave them to Sherman to try and take Vicksburg, along with the Helena garrison, which I don't think was in Grant's department but was more or less given to him to use to try and make Pemberton fall back behind the Yalobusha.

I'm not sure how much influence Grant had in the selection of the Corp Commanders when the wings of the 13th Corps were turned into separate Corps 13th-McClernand, 15th-Sherman, 16th-Hurlburt, 17th-McPherson.

 

[tony_gunter]

Well Grant and Halleck took a good chunk of the new levies that McClernand had raised and gave them to Sherman to try and take Vicksburg,

That was Halleck, Grant was clueless what Halleck was up to until Halleck spelled it out for him.

along with the Helena garrison, which I don't think was in Grant's department but was more or less given to him to use to try and make Pemberton fall back behind the Yalobusha.

I'm not sure how much influence Grant had in the selection of the Corp Commanders when the wings of the 13th Corps were turned into separate Corps 13th-McClernand, 15th-Sherman, 16th-Hurlburt, 17th-McPherson.

Except for McClernand, Grant got everything he asked for: McPherson promoted to Major General and placed in command of XVIi corps over Charles Smith who was senior in rank, he got Lew Wallace's assignment changed, who would have replaced Grenville Dodge, and he got what became XIII corps assigned to his department from Helena.

 

[tony_gunter]

McPherson promoted to Major General and placed in command of XVIi corps over Charles Smith who was senior in rank,

Doh! I meant Charles Hamilton.