Tag Archives: Vicksburg

“Eighty-odd years since …”

Posted on July 4, 2020 by SUMPTER

The Fourth of July 1863 was a glad day for the Union during the American Civil War. Rebels surrendered Vicksburg, Mississippi to Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant, and that evening the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia began to … Continue reading →

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the long march

Posted on April 14, 2018 by SUMPTER

April 14, 1865 was something of a banner day in Washington, D.C. Gilbert Bates, who had served as a sergeant in the 1st Wisconsin Heavy Artillery during the war, arrived on foot in the nation’s capital carrying the Stars and … Continue reading →

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Aftermath, Postbellum Society, Reconstruction, Southern Society | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

freedom march

Posted on March 4, 2014 by SUMPTER

philanthropists wanted … now! Last week Seven Score and Ten presented three different takes on General William T. Sherman’s Meridian Campaign. Here’s a fourth, from a Seneca County, New York newspaper in 1864: LO! THE POOR NEGRO. – A Vicksburg … Continue reading →

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Haunted Fourth

Posted on July 4, 2013 by SUMPTER

From The Heart of a Soldier: As Revealed in the Intimate Letters of Genl. George E. Pickett (pages 101-103): On the Fourth – far from a glorious Fourth to us or to any with love for his fellow-men – I … Continue reading →

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“moral impossibility”

Posted on July 2, 2013 by SUMPTER

150 years ago tomorrow The New York Times published a huge article that put together many dispatches from besieged Vicksburg. The reports contained misinformation (General Grant announcing to his troops that Port Hudson had fallen), but the main themes were … Continue reading →

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Mutiny at ‘Gibraltar’?

Posted on June 29, 2013 by SUMPTER

150 years ago today a Richmond newspaper published information that the Yankee siege of Vicksburg was progressing but that Confederate General Johnston’s army was getting nearer. There was more information that things were going well for the rebels trapped in … Continue reading →

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“I quailed”

Posted on June 25, 2013 by SUMPTER

150 years ago today Union troops at Vicksburg exploded 2200 pounds of gunpowder under part of the Confederate defenses. Northern soldiers were unable to successfully exploit the resulting crater in the midst of the rebel works. Check out one of … Continue reading →

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Hot times at Vicksburg

Posted on June 12, 2013 by SUMPTER

The main thing I remember about The How and Why Wonder Book of The Civil War was an image of the caves in Vicksburg that residents lived in to avoid and/or survive the federal shelling of 1863 (I haven’t fact-checked … Continue reading →

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Not ’til there’s nothing left to sell

Posted on June 8, 2013 by SUMPTER

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch June 6, 1863: General Pemberton to the army. –The Mississippian, of Saturday morning, publishes a speech made by Gen. Pemberton, after repulses of the enemy. It is as follows: You have heard that I was … Continue reading →

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Digging Past Vicksburg?

Posted on June 27, 2012 by SUMPTER

150 years ago this week Federal troops began digging a canal that was intended to cut between two sections of the Mississippi River so that Union ships could avoid passing by Vicksburg and its effective cannon defenses. From A Seneca … Continue reading →

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Military Matters | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments