Member Review Why was Vicksburg so important?

[wausaubob]

I was reading Army's book on Civil War engineering and noticed how widely he missed the mark in assessing how important the US capture of Vicksburg was to the outcome of the US Civil War. In general, the comments at CWT have been superior.
1. It was an essential political goal for the Republican party. President Lincoln might not have been renominated and probably would not have been re-elected if the US had not captured Vicksburg and done so by mid 1863. The nation was impatient. Enormous army and navy assets were dedicated to the task and when it was accomplished, those resources were released to pursue other objectives. This was the main significance. Everything else was minor compared to this one priority.
2. In addition to capturing the city, the garrison surrendered. All the equipment was surrendered. The Confederate armies in the west were not able to make up the loss for many months.
3. The US had a large naval and army base established in New Orleans and Louisiana. It was important that supplies be shipped from St. Louis to New Orleans, even if the supplies had to be convoyed and escorted.
4. It made Texas independent of Richmond. The Texas cotton operation was independent. The US and Britain wanted the cotton coming out, but the supplies going into Texas were unlikely to ever get farther than Louisiana.
5. People in New Orleans and Memphis began to trade cotton with the Yankees. Some of the supplies going in at those points must have helped the Confederate armies. But that also meant the most extreme hardships were ended. The people of Louisiana and Mississippi needed the moderation of prices and New England needed the cotton. It was just one country, after all.
6. Grant became a hero/celebrity. If Lincoln had died of typhus, as his son had died, the Republicans had an alternative.

 

[wausaubob]

One other thing: the US conquest of Vicksburg and the improvement of economic conditions in Memphis made Andrew Johnson look prescient. He was a very effective military governor. And his racial policies, though not consistent with late 20th century standards, were very close to what the US public was willing to accept in the second half of the 19th century.

 

[tony_gunter]

I was reading Army's book on Civil War engineering and noticed how widely he missed the mark in assessing how important the US capture of Vicksburg was to the outcome of the US Civil War. In general, the comments at CWT have been superior.
1. It was an essential political goal for the Republican party. President Lincoln might not have been renominated and probably would not have been re-elected if the US had not captured Vicksburg and done so by mid 1863. The nation was impatient. Enormous army and navy assets were dedicated to the task and when it was accomplished, those resources were released to pursue other objectives. This was the main significance. Everything else was minor compared to this one priority.
2. In addition to capturing the city, the garrison surrendered. All the equipment was surrendered. The Confederate armies in the west were not able to make up the loss for many months.
3. The US had a large naval and army base established in New Orleans and Louisiana. It was important that supplies be shipped from St. Louis to New Orleans, even if the supplies had to be convoyed and escorted.
4. It made Texas independent of Richmond. The Texas cotton operation was independent. The US and Britain wanted the cotton coming out, but the supplies going into Texas were unlikely to ever get farther than Louisiana.
5. People in New Orleans and Memphis began to trade cotton with the Yankees. Some of the supplies going in at those points must have helped the Confederate armies. But that also meant the most extreme hardships were ended. The people of Louisiana and Mississippi needed the moderation of prices and New England needed the cotton. It was just one country, after all.
6. Grant became a hero/celebrity. If Lincoln had died of typhus, as his son had died, the Republicans had an alternative.

Slaves / Freedmen is the most important IMO. There were something like 500,000 slaves living in the area between Vicksburg and Port Hudson. Not only did unfettered access to this area shift economic production from Confederate to Federal, but it meant recruits flooding into the Federal army.

 

[wausaubob]

Slaves / Freedmen is the most important IMO. There were something like 500,000 slaves living in the area between Vicksburg and Port Hudson. Not only did unfettered access to this area shift economic production from Confederate to Federal, but it meant recruits flooding into the Federal army.

I left that out to avoid conflict, but slavery was dead once the throne of King Cotton was occupied by the US. Slave traders could no longer use the Mississippi River. But its an essential point. It went a long way to convincing people in Missouri that slavery was the past.

 

[Nathan Stuart]

In my view, the fall of Vicksburg was the key turning point of the war.

Of all the above valid points made, thought that loss (together with Port Hudson, five days later), giving the Federals effective control of the western waterways for transporting troops and supplies, was in particular the salient factor.

 

[wausaubob]

In my view, the fall of Vicksburg was the key turning point of the war.

Of all the above valid points made, thought that loss (together with Port Hudson, five days later), giving the Federals effective control of the western waterways for transporting troops and supplies, was in particular the salient factor.

It didn't give the US control of Texas. And the Confederates could still block non escorted civilian traffic. But throughout the far west and the Midwest, it was recognized as a step towards reconstruction. The British had been following events in Mississippi with about an 11 day lag.

 

[Nathan Towne]

In my view, the fall of Vicksburg was the key turning point of the war.

Of all the above valid points made, thought that loss (together with Port Hudson, five days later), giving the Federals effective control of the western waterways for transporting troops and supplies, was in particular the salient factor.

Whenever I am asked the "turning point" question, I basically respond by saying that I think that Federal operations from January through June of 1862, across the Confederacy, basically put the Confederate nation into a box from which it never really recovered.

The situation was able to be stabilized for a time to the extent that the rate of disintegration slowed markedly for awhile, but the damage which had been done would be increasingly felt as the year went and into 1863 and beyond in an extremely serious way.

Regardless of how we see assess the Confederate nation's prospects for survival prior to January of 1862 (which I regard as being not great), operations over the first six months of 1862 basically resulted in a situation in which, barring some unforeseen political event/foreign intervention, the Confederacy was exceedingly likely to lose the war/be destroyed.

 

[Nathan Stuart]

The situation was able to be stabilized for a time to the extent that the rate of disintegration slowed markedly for awhile, but the damage which had been done would be increasingly felt as the year went and into 1863 and beyond in an extremely serious way.

Agree. Think it's difficult to pinpoint a single standout turning point event. Thought the war was an insidious process for the Confederacy. It might be accurate to view it as a continuum of turning point events, from start to finish.

 

[wausaubob]

Whenever I am asked the "turning point" question, I basically respond by saying that I think that Federal operations from January through June of 1862, across the Confederacy, basically put the Confederate nation into a box from which it never really recovered.

The situation was able to be stabilized for a time to the extent that the rate of disintegration slowed markedly for awhile, but the damage which had been done would be increasingly felt as the year went and into 1863 and beyond in an extremely serious way.

Regardless of how we see assess the Confederate nation's prospects for survival prior to January of 1862 (which I regard as being not great), operations over the first six months of 1862 basically resulted in a situation in which, barring some unforeseen political event/foreign intervention, the Confederacy was exceedingly likely to lose the war/be destroyed.

By the time New Orleans fell as an intact city, and the US river navy similarly captured Memphis, the navy occupied Pensacola, and the army captured Norfolk without a major battle, and Gilmore punched holes in Fort Pulaski with heavy artillery, the box was established.
Without New Orleans, with Mobile and Savannah under close blockade, the 50% chance the Confederacy seemed to have in April of 1861 had already declined to something under 20%.