WEBVTT

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By the end of the Civil
War's second year,

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Union forces in
the West controlled

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much of the Mississippi River,
except for one vital stretch.

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Few northern boats tested
the strong Confederate river

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batteries at Port
Hudson or at Vicksburg,

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known as the Gibraltar
of the Confederacy.

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President Abraham Lincoln
claimed Vicksburg the key

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to winning the Civil War.

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But by late 1862, Union naval
efforts there had failed.

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That key remained firmly
in Southern hands.

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Using the Mississippi River
and its major tributaries

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to move men and
munitions, the Union Army

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had won a series of
victories in the West.

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And they hadn't done it alone.

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In late 1861, the
U.S. War Department

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had rapidly built a fleet
of ironclad riverboats

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never before seen in warfare.

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By late 1862, this brown-water
navy and Major General Ulysses

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S. Grant's army set
their sights on the city

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that Confederate
President Jefferson Davis

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claimed was the nailhead
that held the South's two

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halves together.

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With most of the South's ports
blockaded by Union ships,

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Vicksburg's connection to
the Trans-Mississippi region

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made it critical to the
Confederacy's very survival.

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Texas beef and Louisiana
sugar, salt, and molasses

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fed the Southern armies.

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Lead from Missouri
filled Southern rifles.

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And it all funneled through
Vicksburg's rail lines.

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The defense of Vicksburg
and Port Hudson

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fell to Lieutenant General
John Pemberton, who

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was a Pennsylvanian by birth,
but sided with the South

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at the urging of his
wife, a Virginian.

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With little combat
experience, his orders

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are to hold Vicksburg
at all costs.

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In late 1862, Grant began
his campaign for Vicksburg

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with a two-pronged
strike, intending

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to lure Confederate forces from
Vicksburg with the first prong,

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while the second, commanded by
Major General William Sherman,

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struck at the city's
lightly held defenses.

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But Confederate
cavalry hit first,

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cutting Grant's long supply
line, forcing him to fall back

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and allowing
Confederates to shift men

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by rail to defeat Sherman's
attacks at Chickasaw

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Bayou in late December.

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Grant spends the winter
and early spring of 1863

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trying a variety of
routes to Vicksburg,

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each ending in failure.

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Yet, amidst growing public
cries to replace him

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and against the advice
of his closest advisers,

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Grant grew bolder, embarking
upon the largest amphibious

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campaign in American
history up to that time.

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In late March, Grant orders
Major General John McClernand's

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XIII Corps to improve the route
across Louisiana's swampy river

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bottoms.

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Out of the reach of
Vicksburg's big guns,

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the Union force would then be
ferried across the mighty river

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and onto Mississippi soil.

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Grant's plan is
intricate, risky.

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Success hinges on Admiral
David Porter's fleet

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of gunboat's and
troop transports,

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which on the night of
April 16, make a daring

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race past the
Vicksburg batteries,

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hugging the riverbank below
to withstand their fire.

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Even with Porter's fleet
south of Vicksburg,

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Grant continues to keep
Pemberton guessing as to where

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he'll attack.

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On April 17, the day
after Porter's daring run,

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Grant launches a
Federal cavalry raid

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into the heart of Mississippi.

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On April 29, Sherman feints
an attack north of Vicksburg,

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while Union gunboats shell
Grand Gulf, where Grant actually

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plans to ferry his army
across the great river.

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The cavalry raid ties up
Pemberton's cavalry, leaving

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river crossings unguarded.

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Sherman's feint draws
Confederate attention north

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of the city.

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Both keep Pemberton distracted
from the true threat

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at Grand Gulf.

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The batteries there were too
strong for Union gunboats.

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So Grant adapts and crosses,
instead, at Bruinsburg.

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By April 30, Grant
realizes a goal

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he had toiled six
months to achieve.

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The lead element of his army
is on the Confederate side

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of the river.

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For the next seventeen
days, his army

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would march more than
two hundred miles

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and fight five
battles in a campaign

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never before witnessed
on American soil.

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Moving inland, up steep
bluffs, marched the soldiers

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of McClernand's corps.

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In the early morning
hours of May 1,

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they hit a Confederate brigade.

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For the next seventeen hours,
up to 8,000 Confederates

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put up a noble defense in the
rugged terrain surrounding

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Fort Gibson, holding
back 20,000 Federals.

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By late afternoon, outflanked
and low on ammunition,

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the Confederates fall back.

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The loss here causes the
Confederate evacuation

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of Grand Gulf on May 2.

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With his beachhead secure,
Grant's plan truly unfolds.

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Now, aware of Grant's
true intentions,

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Pemberton assumes he will
march north for Vicksburg.

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But Grant has already
rejected that approach

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as too restrictive.

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Instead, using the Big
Black River as a shield,

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he plans to cut
the rail line which

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feeds Vicksburg with
supplies and reinforcements.

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Then he will turn and trap
Pemberton at Vicksburg.

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It was this type of
bold, indirect strategy

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that would become the hallmark
of Grant's military career.

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By May 12, joined by
Sherman's corps, Grant marches

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along a ten-mile front, aiming
to attack the Southern railroad

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the next morning.

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Pemberton shifts his army and
rushes a Confederate brigade

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by rail to Jackson with orders
to strike Grant's right flank.

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These 3,000 Confederates
slam into Major General James

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McPherson's 10,000 men along
the banks of 14-Mile Creek,

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just southwest of Raymond.

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Unaware that they are
outnumbered three to one,

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Confederates launch
a fierce attack.

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After almost six hours,
McPherson's artillery

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and numeric advantage has the
rebels retreating to Jackson.

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Realizing he can't
safely march on Vicksburg

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with the large body of
Confederates now at his rear,

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Grant wields two-thirds of his
army toward the state capital.

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He cuts rail and telegraph
lines along the way

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and hinders communication
between Pemberton

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and the one man
sent to assist him.

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On the night of May 13,
General Joe Johnston,

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the hero of First Manassas,
arrives at Jackson

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to take charge of the grim
Confederate predicament

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in Mississippi.

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Within hours, even as his
reinforcements near Jackson,

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Johnston wires the authorities
in Richmond that he is too late

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and orders the city evacuated.

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The next morning, Sherman
and McPherson's divisions

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push back Confederate
artillery and roadblocks

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from a handful of
Confederate regiments.

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By late afternoon on May
14, the United States flag

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flies once again over
the state capital.

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Grant spares none of his men
to occupy Jackson and put

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its military supplies and
rail lines to the torch.

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Then he turns his
army toward Vicksburg.

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As Jackson burned, Pemberton
had moved with 20,000 men

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to attack Grant's supply line.

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Without a working telegraph,
Confederate communications

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unravel.

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As Johnston gathers
reinforcements

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to the northeast,
Pemberton moves southeast.

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On May 16, Pemberton receives
a two-day-old message

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from Johnston, ordering
him to Clinton.

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As Pemberton reverses his
column, Grant closes in.

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Pemberton hastily
deploys his divisions

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along a three-mile front to face
two advancing Federal columns.

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But he is unaware of a third
moving toward his exposed left

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flank.

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Brigadier General Steven
Lee of Stevenson's division

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shifts his brigade to a
hill owned by Sid Champion.

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Brigadier General Alfred
Cumming's Georgians

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moved to fill a gap and block
the Union division's closing

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on the middle road.

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And at 10:30 that
morning, at Champion Hill,

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Grant starts the
battle, destined

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to seal Vicksburg's
eventual fate.

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If Pemberton's thin
left flank crumbles,

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Grant will control of Baker's
Creek Bridge and Pemberton's

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escape route to Vicksburg.

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Seth Barton's Georgia
brigade hustles

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to stop the Union onslaught.

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By 11:30 AM, the
fighting on Champion Hill

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turns viciously hand-to-hand,
with Stevenson's division

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eventually thrown back
to the Jackson ruin.

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Major General John
Bowen's division

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savagely drives the Federals
back to the Champion house.

00:11:30.260 --> 00:11:33.850 align:middle line:84%
But a second Federal
assault overwhelms them.

00:11:33.850 --> 00:11:37.550 align:middle line:84%
Reinforcements led by Major
General William Loring

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arrive too late, and
Bowen's men fall back.

00:11:41.950 --> 00:11:46.900 align:middle line:84%
Their retreat turns to panic
as Grant's divisions converge.

00:11:46.900 --> 00:11:49.870 align:middle line:84%
Their main escape
roue now cut off,

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Pemberton's men had managed to
construct a second bridge which

00:11:54.250 --> 00:11:57.790 align:middle line:84%
they used to retreat
to Edwards, though not

00:11:57.790 --> 00:12:00.625 align:middle line:84%
before Grant's army
is able to strand

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Loring on the east
side of Baker's Creek.

00:12:05.170 --> 00:12:08.710 align:middle line:84%
Out of communication with
Pemberton and believing Grant

00:12:08.710 --> 00:12:12.460 align:middle line:84%
has already taken Edwards,
Loring orders his vital

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8,000-man division to Jackson
and away from the defenses

00:12:17.590 --> 00:12:19.180 align:middle line:90%
at Vicksburg.

00:12:19.180 --> 00:12:22.690 align:middle line:84%
Unaware of Loring's decision,
Pemberton waits for him

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that night in the fortification
at the Big Black River Bridge.

00:12:26.980 --> 00:12:29.020 align:middle line:84%
Instead, he is met
the next morning

00:12:29.020 --> 00:12:33.010 align:middle line:84%
by McClernand's corps, which
immediately attack and send

00:12:33.010 --> 00:12:37.090 align:middle line:84%
the rebels running to
the safety of Vicksburg.

00:12:37.090 --> 00:12:41.200 align:middle line:84%
The battles at Champion Hill and
Big Black River cost Pemberton

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dearly--

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twenty-five percent of his
army, forty-five cannon,

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and the faith of his men.

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Thirty years ago to
the day, Pemberton

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had accepted a
cadetship to West Point.

00:12:53.930 --> 00:12:56.160 align:middle line:84%
As he rode back to
Vicksburg, he notes,

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"and today, that career is
ended in disaster and disgrace."

00:13:02.360 --> 00:13:04.710 align:middle line:90%
Grant's trap is now set.

00:13:04.710 --> 00:13:12.820 align:middle line:90%


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On May 17, Pemberton's
demoralized soldiers,

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reeling from the loss
at Big Black River,

00:13:20.110 --> 00:13:22.450 align:middle line:90%
begin streaming into the city.

00:13:22.450 --> 00:13:28.330 align:middle line:84%
They work through the night to
shore up their fortifications.

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Vicksburg's land defenses
stretch more than eight miles,

00:13:32.260 --> 00:13:36.460 align:middle line:84%
with nine major forts connected
by rifle pits, artillery

00:13:36.460 --> 00:13:40.360 align:middle line:84%
embrasures, and parapets
of earth and logs.

00:13:40.360 --> 00:13:45.010 align:middle line:84%
One such stockade redan
guarded the graveyard road

00:13:45.010 --> 00:13:48.640 align:middle line:90%
leading into Vicksburg.

00:13:48.640 --> 00:13:51.210 align:middle line:84%
Wanting to avoid
a lengthy siege,

00:13:51.210 --> 00:13:56.130 align:middle line:90%
Grant attacks here May 19.

00:13:56.130 --> 00:13:59.780 align:middle line:84%
After a five-hour artillery
barrage, Sherman goes in.

00:13:59.780 --> 00:14:02.840 align:middle line:84%
But piles of brush and
sharpened tree limbs

00:14:02.840 --> 00:14:06.730 align:middle line:84%
unravel formation as
Confederate crossfire cuts

00:14:06.730 --> 00:14:09.280 align:middle line:90%
men down in scores.

00:14:09.280 --> 00:14:13.820 align:middle line:84%
Pinned down, Confederates lob
hand grenades into their midst.

00:14:13.820 --> 00:14:16.160 align:middle line:84%
The Federals use the
cover of darkness

00:14:16.160 --> 00:14:17.680 align:middle line:90%
to fall back to their lines.

00:14:17.680 --> 00:14:23.390 align:middle line:84%
Almost 1,000 of Grant's men are
killed, wounded, or missing.

00:14:23.390 --> 00:14:29.195 align:middle line:84%
Behind his stout defenses,
Pemberton loses only 70.

00:14:29.195 --> 00:14:35.030 align:middle line:84%
On May 22, Grant tries again on
a much wider three-mile front.

00:14:35.030 --> 00:14:39.950 align:middle line:90%


00:14:39.950 --> 00:14:43.310 align:middle line:84%
Only McClernand's
corps gains a foothold.

00:14:43.310 --> 00:14:47.870 align:middle line:84%
He sends Grant a message
to keep up the pressure.

00:14:47.870 --> 00:14:54.210 align:middle line:84%
But they are beaten back
and lose another 3,000 men.

00:14:54.210 --> 00:14:58.210 align:middle line:84%
Grant realizes he has no
other choice but to lay siege,

00:14:58.210 --> 00:15:01.630 align:middle line:84%
ordering his commanders
to dig their lines closer

00:15:01.630 --> 00:15:04.420 align:middle line:90%
to the Confederate trenches.

00:15:04.420 --> 00:15:08.670 align:middle line:84%
By mid-June, they begin mining
beneath the third Louisiana

00:15:08.670 --> 00:15:09.840 align:middle line:90%
redan.

00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:13.110 align:middle line:84%
And on June 25, the
Federals explode

00:15:13.110 --> 00:15:16.270 align:middle line:90%
2,200 pounds of black powder.

00:15:16.270 --> 00:15:19.630 align:middle line:84%
Soldiers from both sides
pour into the crater,

00:15:19.630 --> 00:15:23.380 align:middle line:84%
fighting for more than 20
hours before Grant calls off

00:15:23.380 --> 00:15:24.640 align:middle line:90%
the attacks.

00:15:24.640 --> 00:15:28.150 align:middle line:84%
By July 6, the Federals
will be prepared

00:15:28.150 --> 00:15:31.330 align:middle line:90%
to detonate thirteen more mines.

00:15:31.330 --> 00:15:33.495 align:middle line:90%
But it will not be necessary.

00:15:33.495 --> 00:15:37.690 align:middle line:84%
For forty-seven days, soldiers
and Vicksburg citizens

00:15:37.690 --> 00:15:41.950 align:middle line:90%
endure a constant nightmare.

00:15:41.950 --> 00:15:46.790 align:middle line:84%
Day and night, up to 220 cannon
blast the Southern defenses

00:15:46.790 --> 00:15:51.170 align:middle line:84%
from land as Porter's gunboats
shell Vicksburg's batteries

00:15:51.170 --> 00:15:52.460 align:middle line:90%
from the river.

00:15:52.460 --> 00:15:58.260 align:middle line:84%
Citizens took to living in
hillside caves for shelter.

00:15:58.260 --> 00:16:01.120 align:middle line:90%
Food and water grow scarce.

00:16:01.120 --> 00:16:05.480 align:middle line:84%
As disease flourishes,
medical supplies dwindle.

00:16:05.480 --> 00:16:10.100 align:middle line:84%
Every public building, and
many homes, are now hospitals.

00:16:10.100 --> 00:16:14.850 align:middle line:84%
Wagons make daily rounds
to pick up the dead.

00:16:14.850 --> 00:16:19.542 align:middle line:84%
Rebel soldiers' rations are by
now a handful of peas and rice

00:16:19.542 --> 00:16:23.240 align:middle line:84%
and a single cup
of water per day.

00:16:23.240 --> 00:16:28.640 align:middle line:84%
Sickness and desertion leave
fewer men on the front lines.

00:16:28.640 --> 00:16:32.600 align:middle line:84%
One day in late June, a
note is slid under the door

00:16:32.600 --> 00:16:34.310 align:middle line:90%
of Pemberton's headquarters.

00:16:34.310 --> 00:16:38.540 align:middle line:84%
It reads, "if you can't
feed us, surrender us.

00:16:38.540 --> 00:16:42.720 align:middle line:90%
Signed, many soldiers."

00:16:42.720 --> 00:16:46.100 align:middle line:84%
Following a dire report
from his subordinates

00:16:46.100 --> 00:16:48.950 align:middle line:84%
that his army lacks
the strength to make

00:16:48.950 --> 00:16:52.440 align:middle line:84%
a breakout attack,
on July 2, Pemberton

00:16:52.440 --> 00:16:54.987 align:middle line:90%
realizes he has no choice.

00:16:54.987 --> 00:16:56.943 align:middle line:90%
He must surrender.

00:16:56.943 --> 00:17:10.650 align:middle line:90%


00:17:10.650 --> 00:17:16.650 align:middle line:84%
On July 3, 1863, there came
a sound, ominous for some,

00:17:16.650 --> 00:17:20.030 align:middle line:90%
for weeks unheard by all.

00:17:20.030 --> 00:17:22.339 align:middle line:90%
Silence.

00:17:22.339 --> 00:17:25.430 align:middle line:84%
That day, Grant
and Pemberton meet

00:17:25.430 --> 00:17:27.890 align:middle line:90%
to discuss terms of surrender.

00:17:27.890 --> 00:17:30.650 align:middle line:84%
With the anniversary of
American independence

00:17:30.650 --> 00:17:33.980 align:middle line:84%
only a day away,
Pemberton hopes Grant

00:17:33.980 --> 00:17:36.740 align:middle line:90%
will be in a generous mood.

00:17:36.740 --> 00:17:42.590 align:middle line:84%
Instead, Grant demands
unconditional surrender.

00:17:42.590 --> 00:17:44.830 align:middle line:90%
Pemberton refuses.

00:17:44.830 --> 00:17:49.030 align:middle line:84%
Later that evening,
Grant offers terms.

00:17:49.030 --> 00:17:51.970 align:middle line:84%
Instead of taking
Pemberton's army prisoner,

00:17:51.970 --> 00:17:53.530 align:middle line:90%
he will parole them.

00:17:53.530 --> 00:17:57.980 align:middle line:90%
Many will go home at once.

00:17:57.980 --> 00:17:59.540 align:middle line:90%
Pemberton accepts.

00:17:59.540 --> 00:18:02.190 align:middle line:84%
And on the fourth of
July, the Confederates

00:18:02.190 --> 00:18:06.770 align:middle line:84%
stack arms, handing over
the city of Vicksburg

00:18:06.770 --> 00:18:07.825 align:middle line:90%
to the Union forces.

00:18:07.825 --> 00:18:11.440 align:middle line:90%


00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:14.850 align:middle line:84%
The South's
Gibraltar had fallen.

00:18:14.850 --> 00:18:18.870 align:middle line:84%
With the capture of Port
Hudson five days later,

00:18:18.870 --> 00:18:24.760 align:middle line:84%
the Mississippi River is
entirely in Union hands.

00:18:24.760 --> 00:18:29.450 align:middle line:84%
Grant loses 10,000, killed,
wounded, or missing,

00:18:29.450 --> 00:18:33.260 align:middle line:84%
and inflicts nearly as many
losses on the Confederates.

00:18:33.260 --> 00:18:38.210 align:middle line:84%
But aided by Porter's fleet, he
disperses an entire rebel army

00:18:38.210 --> 00:18:40.470 align:middle line:84%
and cuts the
South's supply line.

00:18:40.470 --> 00:18:45.590 align:middle line:84%
Soon, even the most basic goods,
like salt to preserve meat,

00:18:45.590 --> 00:18:48.620 align:middle line:90%
would grow increasingly scarce.

00:18:48.620 --> 00:18:52.630 align:middle line:84%
Yet the Vicksburg campaign
is overshadowed in the press

00:18:52.630 --> 00:18:57.850 align:middle line:84%
by the Confederate defeat at
Gettysburg the day before.

00:18:57.850 --> 00:19:01.420 align:middle line:84%
And only in the coming decade
would Grant's accomplishment

00:19:01.420 --> 00:19:03.280 align:middle line:90%
be recognized.

00:19:03.280 --> 00:19:06.730 align:middle line:84%
Late into the 20th
century, coalition forces

00:19:06.730 --> 00:19:11.080 align:middle line:84%
in the first Gulf War were
still using tactics inspired

00:19:11.080 --> 00:19:12.700 align:middle line:90%
by Grant's Vicksburg campaign.

00:19:12.700 --> 00:19:28.950 align:middle line:90%


00:19:28.950 --> 00:19:32.330 align:middle line:84%
And it was at Vicksburg
that the blue and the gray

00:19:32.330 --> 00:19:37.250 align:middle line:84%
found unity in the
cause of preservation.

00:19:37.250 --> 00:19:40.880 align:middle line:84%
Their efforts resulted in the
establishment of the Vicksburg

00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:48.170 align:middle line:90%
National Military Park in 1899.

00:19:48.170 --> 00:19:52.900 align:middle line:84%
Today, that preservation
effort continues,

00:19:52.900 --> 00:19:58.430 align:middle line:84%
so that the sacrifices
made there, by both sides,

00:19:58.430 --> 00:20:00.390 align:middle line:90%
will not be forgotten.

00:20:00.390 --> 00:20:15.100 align:middle line:90%


00:20:15.100 --> 00:20:18.670 align:middle line:84%
The Civil War Trust,
working with local groups,

00:20:18.670 --> 00:20:23.330 align:middle line:84%
has saved more than 1,000
acres of Vicksburg campaign

00:20:23.330 --> 00:20:27.880 align:middle line:84%
battlefields, ranging from Port
Gibson to Raymond and Champion

00:20:27.880 --> 00:20:29.430 align:middle line:90%
Hill.

00:20:29.430 --> 00:20:50.081 align:middle line:90%