1.
American Civil War
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The American Civil War was an internal conflict fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865. The Union faced secessionists in eleven Southern states grouped together as the Confederate States of America, the Union won the war, which remains the bloodiest in U. S. history. Among the 34 U. S. states in February 1861, War broke out in April 1861 when Confederates attacked the U. S. fortress of Fort Sumter. The Confederacy grew to eleven states, it claimed two more states, the Indian Territory, and the southern portions of the western territories of Arizona. The Confederacy was never recognized by the United States government nor by any foreign country. The states that remained loyal, including border states where slavery was legal, were known as the Union or the North, the war ended with the surrender of all the Confederate armies and the dissolution of the Confederate government in the spring of 1865. The war had its origin in the issue of slavery. The Confederacy collapsed and 4 million slaves were freed, but before his inauguration, seven slave states with cotton-based economies formed the Confederacy. The first six to declare secession had the highest proportions of slaves in their populations, the first seven with state legislatures to resolve for secession included split majorities for unionists Douglas and Bell in Georgia with 51% and Louisiana with 55%. Alabama had voted 46% for those unionists, Mississippi with 40%, Florida with 38%, Texas with 25%, of these, only Texas held a referendum on secession. Eight remaining slave states continued to reject calls for secession, outgoing Democratic President James Buchanan and the incoming Republicans rejected secession as illegal. Lincolns March 4,1861 inaugural address declared that his administration would not initiate a civil war, speaking directly to the Southern States, he reaffirmed, I have no purpose, directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the United States where it exists. I believe I have no right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. After Confederate forces seized numerous federal forts within territory claimed by the Confederacy, efforts at compromise failed, the Confederates assumed that European countries were so dependent on King Cotton that they would intervene, but none did, and none recognized the new Confederate States of America. Hostilities began on April 12,1861, when Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter, while in the Western Theater the Union made significant permanent gains, in the Eastern Theater, the battle was inconclusive in 1861–62. The autumn 1862 Confederate campaigns into Maryland and Kentucky failed, dissuading British intervention, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which made ending slavery a war goal. To the west, by summer 1862 the Union destroyed the Confederate river navy, then much of their western armies, the 1863 Union siege of Vicksburg split the Confederacy in two at the Mississippi River. In 1863, Robert E. Lees Confederate incursion north ended at the Battle of Gettysburg, Western successes led to Ulysses S. Grants command of all Union armies in 1864
2.
Hinds County, Mississippi
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Hinds County is a county located in the U. S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2010 census, the population was 245,285 and its county seats are Raymond and Jackson, the state capital. The county is named for General Thomas Hinds, a hero of the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812, Hinds County is part of the Jackson, MS Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is a center of professional, educational, business and industrial elites in the state and it is bordered on the northwest by the Big Black River and on the east by the Pearl River. It is one county away from the Yazoo River and the southern border of the Mississippi Delta. In the 19th century, the areas of the county were devoted to cotton plantations worked by enslaved African Americans. From 1877 to 1950, this county had 22 lynchings, the highest number in the state, Mississippi has the highest total number of lynchings of any state. This form of terrorism was at its height at the turn of the 20th century. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 877 square miles. It is the third-largest county in Mississippi by land area and fifth-largest by total area. 69. 1% were Black or African American,28. 4% White,0. 8% Asian,0. 2% Native American,0. 7% of some other race and 0. 9% of two or more races. As of the census of 2000, there were 250,800 people,91,030 households, the population density was 288 people per square mile. There were 100,287 housing units at a density of 115 per square mile. 0. 79% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race,26. 70% of all households were made up of individuals and 8. 70% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.64 and the family size was 3.22. In the county, the population was out with 27. 90% under the age of 18,12. 10% from 18 to 24,28. 90% from 25 to 44,20. 10% from 45 to 64. The median age was 32 years, for every 100 females there were 88.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.50 males, the median income for a household in the county was $33,991, and the median income for a family was $40,525
3.
Mississippi
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Mississippi /ˌmɪsᵻˈsɪpi/ is a state in the southern region of the United States, with part of its southern border formed by the Gulf of Mexico. Its western border is formed by the Mississippi River, the state has a population of approximately 3 million. It is the 32nd most extensive and the 32nd most populous of the 50 United States, located in the center of the state, Jackson is the state capital and largest city, with a population of approximately 175,000 people. The state is heavily forested outside of the Mississippi Delta area, before the American Civil War, most development in the state was along riverfronts, where slaves worked on cotton plantations. After the war, the bottomlands to the interior were cleared, by the end of the 19th century, African Americans made up two-thirds of the Deltas property owners, but timber and railroad companies acquired much of the land after a financial crisis. Clearing altered the Deltas ecology, increasing the severity of flooding along the Mississippi, much land is now held by agribusinesses. The states catfish aquaculture farms produce the majority of farm-raised catfish consumed in the United States, since the 1930s and the Great Migration, Mississippi has been majority white, albeit with the highest percentage of black residents of any U. S. state. From the early 19th century to the 1930s, its residents were mostly black, whites retained political power through Jim Crow laws. In 2010, 37% of Mississippians were African Americans, the highest percentage of African Americans in any U. S. state, since gaining enforcement of their voting franchise in the late 1960s, most African Americans support Democratic candidates in local, state and national elections. Conservative whites have shifted to the Republican Party, African Americans are a majority in many counties of the Mississippi-Yazoo Delta, an area of historic settlement during the plantation era. Since 2011 Mississippi has been ranked as the most religious state in the country, the states name is derived from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary. Settlers named it after the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi, in addition to its namesake, major rivers in Mississippi include the Big Black River, the Pearl River, the Yazoo River, the Pascagoula River, and the Tombigbee River. Major lakes include Ross Barnett Reservoir, Arkabutla Lake, Sardis Lake, Mississippi is entirely composed of lowlands, the highest point being Woodall Mountain, in the foothills of the Cumberland Mountains,807 feet above sea level. The lowest point is sea level at the Gulf coast, the states mean elevation is 300 feet above sea level. Most of Mississippi is part of the East Gulf Coastal Plain, the coastal plain is generally composed of low hills, such as the Pine Hills in the south and the North Central Hills. The Pontotoc Ridge and the Fall Line Hills in the northeast have somewhat higher elevations, yellow-brown loess soil is found in the western parts of the state. The northeast is a region of black earth that extends into the Alabama Black Belt. The coastline includes large bays at Bay St. Louis, Biloxi, the northwest remainder of the state consists of the Mississippi Delta, a section of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain
4.
Union (American Civil War)
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The Union was opposed by 11 southern slave states that formed the Confederate States, or the Confederacy. All of the Unions states provided soldiers for the U. S. Army, the Border states played a major role as a supply base for the Union invasion of the Confederacy. The Northeast provided the resources for a mechanized war producing large quantities of munitions and supplies. The Midwest provided soldiers, food, horses, financial support, Army hospitals were set up across the Union. Most states had Republican governors who energetically supported the war effort, the Democratic Party strongly supported the war in 1861 but in 1862 was split between the War Democrats and the anti-war element led by the Copperheads. The Democrats made major gains in 1862 in state elections. They lost ground in 1863, especially in Ohio, in 1864 the Republicans campaigned under the National Union Party banner, which attracted many War Democrats and soldiers and scored a landslide victory for Lincoln and his entire ticket. The war years were quite prosperous except where serious fighting and guerrilla warfare took place along the southern border, prosperity was stimulated by heavy government spending and the creation of an entirely new national banking system. The Union states invested a great deal of money and effort in organizing psychological and social support for soldiers wives, widows, orphans, and for the soldiers themselves. Most soldiers were volunteers, although after 1862 many volunteered to escape the draft, Draft resistance was notable in some larger cities, especially New York City with its massive anti-draft riots of 1863 and in some remote districts such as the coal mining areas of Pennsylvania. In the context of the American Civil War, the Union is sometimes referred to as the North, both then and now, as opposed to the Confederacy, which was the South. The Union never recognized the legitimacy of the Confederacys secession and maintained at all times that it remained entirely a part of the United States of America, in foreign affairs the Union was the only side recognized by all other nations, none of which officially recognized the Confederate government. The term Union occurs in the first governing document of the United States, the subsequent Constitution of 1787 was issued and ratified in the name not of the states, but of We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union. Union, for the United States of America, is repeated in such clauses as the Admission to the Union clause in Article IV. Even before the war started, the preserve the Union was commonplace. Using the term Union to apply to the non-secessionist side carried a connotation of legitimacy as the continuation of the political entity. In comparison to the Confederacy, the Union had a large industrialized and urbanized area, additionally, the Union states had a manpower advantage of 5 to 2 at the start of the war. Year by year, the Confederacy shrank and lost control of increasing quantities of resources, meanwhile, the Union turned its growing potential advantage into a much stronger military force
5.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
6.
Confederate States of America
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The Confederate States, officially the Confederate States of America, commonly referred to as the Confederacy, was a breakaway country of 11 secessionist slave states existing from 1861 to 1865. It was never recognized as an Independent country, although it achieved belligerent status by Britain. A new Confederate government was established in February 1861 before Lincoln took office in March, after the Civil War began in April, four slave states of the Upper South – Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina – also declared their secession and joined the Confederacy. The government of the United States rejected the claims of secession, the Civil War began with the April 12,1861, Confederate attack upon Fort Sumter, a Union fort in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. In spring 1865, after four years of fighting which led to an estimated 620,000 military deaths, all the Confederate forces surrendered. Jefferson Davis later lamented that the Confederacy had disappeared in 1865, Missouri and Kentucky were represented by partisan factions from those states, while the legitimate governments of those two states retained formal adherence to the Union. Also fighting for the Confederacy were two of the Five Civilized Tribes located in Indian Territory and a new, but uncontrolled, Confederate Territory of Arizona. Efforts by certain factions in Maryland to secede were halted by federal imposition of law, while Delaware, though of divided loyalty. A Unionist government in parts of Virginia organized the new state of West Virginia. With the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1,1863, the Union made abolition of slavery a war goal, as Union forces moved southward, large numbers of plantation slaves were freed. Many joined the Union lines, enrolling in service as soldiers, teamsters and laborers, the most notable advance was Shermans March to the Sea in late 1864. Much of the Confederacys infrastructure was destroyed, including telegraphs, railroads, plantations in the path of Shermans forces were severely damaged. Internal movement became increasingly difficult for Southerners, weakening the economy and these losses created an insurmountable disadvantage in men, materiel, and finance. Public support for Confederate President Jefferson Daviss administration eroded over time due to repeated military reverses, economic hardships, after four years of campaigning, Richmond was captured by Union forces in April 1865. Shortly afterward, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, President Davis was captured on May 10,1865, and jailed in preparation for a treason trial that was ultimately never held. The U. S. government began a process known as Reconstruction which attempted to resolve the political and constitutional issues of the Civil War. By 1877, the Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction in the former Confederate states, Confederate veterans had been temporarily disenfranchised by Reconstruction policy. The prewar South had many areas, the war left the entire region economically devastated by military action, ruined infrastructure
7.
John Alexander McClernand
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John Alexander McClernand was an American lawyer and politician, and a Union general in the American Civil War. He was a prominent Democratic politician in Illinois and a member of the United States House of Representatives before the war, McClernand was firmly dedicated to the principles of Jacksonian democracy and supported the Compromise of 1850. McClernand was commissioned a general of volunteers in 1861. His was a case of the politician-in-uniform coming into conflict with career Army officers. He served as a commander under Ulysses S. Grant in the Western Theater, fighting in the battles of Belmont, Fort Donelson. McClernand left the Army in 1864 and served as a judge, McClernand was born in Breckinridge County, Kentucky, near Hardinsburg, but his family moved to Shawneetown, Illinois, when he was quite young. His early life and career were similar to that of another Illinois lawyer of the time and he was largely self-educated and was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1832. In that same year he served as a private in the Blackhawk War. In 1835 McClernand founded the Shawneetown Democrat newspaper, which he edited, as a Democrat he served in 1836 and from 1840 to 1843 in the Illinois House of Representatives. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1843 until 1851 and he was known for his bombastic oratory and his adherence to Jacksonian principles. His dislike of abolitionists generated favor among his constituents, many of whom were natives of slaveholding states. McClernand vigorously opposed the Wilmot Proviso and he was an important ally to Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas. Douglas played a role in formulating the Compromise of 1850. McClernand also served as Chairman of the Committee on Public Lands from 1845 to 1847, in 1850, McClernand declined to be a candidate for renomination, and his term expired in 1851. McClernand was again elected to the House to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Thomas L. Harris and his term began on November 8. He was a strong Unionist and introduced the resolution of July 15,1861, pledging money, McClernand supported the campaign of his friend, Stephen Douglas, in the 1860 presidential election. He served as one of his managers during the divisive Democratic presidential nomination convention held in Charleston. In November 1842, McClernand married Sarah Dunlap of Jacksonville, Illinois, Sarah was a daughter of James Dunlap, who served as a quartermaster in the Union Army during the Civil War, eventually appointed to the rank of brevet major general
8.
John S. Bowen
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John Stevens Bowen was a career United States Army officer who later became a general in the Confederate Army and a commander in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. He fought at the battles of Shiloh, Corinth, and the Vicksburg Campaign and he is often said to have died just as his abilities were gaining attention. Bowen was born in Bowens Creek, Georgia and he attended the University of Georgia in Athens in the early 1840s where he was a member of the Phi Kappa Literary Society, but left before graduating. He later entered the United States Military Academy in 1848, but was suspended in March 1851 and he graduated 13th of 52 cadets in the class of 1853. Among his classmates were future Confederate generals Henry Brevard Davidson, John Bell Hood and he subsequently was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant in the U. S. He eventually became acting adjutant of the U. S. 2nd Cavalry Regiment, then in early 1855, he was reassigned to Fort McIntosh, while there, he decided to resign from the army due to loneliness and moved to Georgia, becoming an architect. He became a lieutenant colonel in the Georgia militia, but then moved to Missouri in 1857, there he became active in the Missouri Volunteer Militia. In 1861 he was appointed as lieutenant colonel commanding the MVMs Southwest Battalion, in early May 1861, Bowen was ordered to St. Louis where he took command of the new 2nd Regiment MVM, largely composed of members of the pro-secessionist Minutemen paramilitary organization. As he waited to be exchanged, he was commissioned a colonel in the Confederate States Army on June 11,1861, after arriving in Memphis, Tennessee he set about recruiting for and organizing the 1st Missouri Infantry. He was reportedly officially exchanged on November 1 and became a commander, serving at Columbus, Kentucky. Bowen was promoted to general on March 14,1862. Breckinridges Reserve Corps of the Army of Mississippi and he distinguished himself in command of his brigade at the Battle of Shiloh, where he was severely wounded by an artillery shell. After his recovery he was given a command in Mansfield Lovells division of the Army of West Tennessee. On the first day, Bowens brigade helped overrun the initial Union positions, during the Confederate retreat from Corinth, his brigade served as part of the rear guard and held off part of the Union army along the Tuscumbia River for an entire day. The court-martial cleared Van Dorn of all charges, Van Dorn was relieved of command in December and John C. Pemberton was put in his commanding the Vicksburg, Mississippi garrison. Bowen was assigned to fortify the post of Grand Gulf with a brigade of infantry, over the next several weeks, he constructed naval batteries along the river. After becoming convinced that Grant would land near Grand Gulf, he repeatedly requested Pemberton for additional supplies and men but each request was refused
9.
XIII Corps (Union Army)
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XIII Corps was a corps of the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was first led by Ulysses S. Grant and later by John A. McClernand and it served in the Western Theater of civil war, Trans-Mississippi Theater and along the Gulf of Mexico. The XIII Corps, along with the XIV Corps, were put into commission on October 24,1862 with the passing of General Orders No.168. These two corps were the first corps created in the Western Theater, while the XIV Corps constituted all forces under the command of William S. Rosecrans, the XIII Corps likewise constituted all the forces under Ulysses S. Grant. Because of the immense size and the fact that it was virtually synonymous with the Army of the Tennessee, Grant chose to subdivide the corps into the Right, Left. In December 1862 it was divided into the XIII Corps, XV Corps, XVI Corps. Grant remained in command of the Army of the Tennessee and John A. McClernand assumed command of the XIII Corps. Before the official order was passed along to all the commanders, William T. Sherman, commander of the Right Wing. Shermans wing of the XIII Corps fought the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou on December 26–29, No matter the designation, it was the first time many of the troops had been under fire. Adding to the identity crisis the XIII Corps faced in its early years was John A. McClernands expedition against Fort Hindman at Arkansas Post, McClernand was given his XIII Corps and Shermans XV Corps. McClernand labeled these forces the Army of the Mississippi and renamed the XIII Corps I Corps, McClernand commanded the Army and placed General George W. Morgan in command of the I Corps. The divisions of Andrew J. Smith and Peter J. Osterhaus participated in the battle, only Stephen Burbridges brigade of Smiths division bore any heavy fighting. With the impending campaign against Vicksburg, Grant took personal command of the operation, McClernand returned to corps command and the Army of the Mississippi was merged back into the Army of the Tennessee and the XIII Corps took on its official title. Ross division was stationed in Arkansas during the campaign and did not participate in any engagements with the rest of the corps. In July, this division fought at the Battle of Helena as part of the District of Eastern Arkansas under Benjamin M. Prentiss, the Battle of Port Gibson was fought by the XIII Corps, with the aid of a portion of the XVII Corps. McClernand did not bring the force of the corps to bear at the Battle of Champion Hill. Immediately following the victory at Champions Hill the Battle of Big Black River Bridge was again fought exclusively by the XIII Corps, when Grant initiated siege operations the XIII Corps took up a position on the Union left. During the assaults on Vicksburg the XIII Corps lost nearly 1,500 soldiers, McClernand had been a long time thorn in Grants side and on June 19, Grant found an opportunity to remove him from command
10.
Vicksburg Campaign
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The Union Army of the Tennessee under Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant gained control of the river by capturing this stronghold and defeating Lt. Gen. John C. The campaign consisted of important naval operations, troop maneuvers, failed initiatives. Military historians divide the campaign into two phases, Operations Against Vicksburg and Grants Operations Against Vicksburg. Grant conducted a number of experiments or expeditions—Grants Bayou Operations—that attempted to enable access to the Mississippi south of Vicksburgs artillery batteries. All five of these failed as well. Finally, Union gunboats and troop transport boats ran the batteries at Vicksburg, on April 29 and April 30,1863, Grants army crossed the Mississippi and landed at Bruinsburg, Mississippi. An elaborate series of demonstrations and diversions fooled the Confederates and the landings occurred without opposition, over the next 17 days, Grant maneuvered his army inland and won five battles, captured the state capital of Jackson, Mississippi, and assaulted and laid siege to Vicksburg. After Pembertons army surrendered on July 4, and when Port Hudson surrendered to Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P, Grants Vicksburg Campaign is studied as a masterpiece of military operations and a major turning point of the war. Vicksburg was strategically vital to the Confederates, Jefferson Davis said, Vicksburg is the nail head that holds the Souths two halves together. The natural defenses of the city were ideal, earning it the nickname The Gibraltar of the Confederacy and it was located on a high bluff overlooking a horseshoe-shaped bend in the river, De Soto Peninsula, making it almost impossible to approach by ship. About twelve miles up the Yazoo River were Confederate batteries and entrenchments at Haynes Bluff, the Louisiana land west of Vicksburg was also difficult, with many streams and poor country roads, widespread winter flooding, and it was on the opposite side of the river from the fortress. The city had been under Union naval attack before, admiral David Farragut moved up the river after his capture of New Orleans and on May 18,1862, demanded the surrender of Vicksburg. Farragut had insufficient troops to force the issue, and he moved back to New Orleans and he returned with a flotilla in June 1862, but their attempts to bombard the fortress into surrender failed. Farragut investigated the possibility of bypassing the fortified cliffs by digging a canal across the neck of the rivers bend, on June 28, Brig. Gen. Thomas Williams, attached to Farraguts command, began digging work on the canal by employing local laborers and some soldiers. Many of the men fell victim to diseases and heat exhaustion. In the fall of 1862, Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck was promoted from command of the Western Theater to general-in-chief of all Union armies. Halleck has received criticism for not moving promptly overland from Memphis, Tennessee and he believed that the Navy could capture the fortress on its own, not knowing that the naval force was insufficiently manned with ground troops to finish the job. What might have achieved success in the summer of 1862 was no longer possible by November because the Confederates had amply reinforced the garrison by that time, Grants army marched south down the Mississippi Central Railroad, making a forward base at Holly Springs
11.
USS Cairo
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USS Cairo /ˈkeɪroʊ/ was one of the first American ironclad warships built at the beginning of the U. S. Civil War. Cairo was the ship of the City-class gunboats and named for Cairo. In June 1862, she captured the Confederate garrison of Fort Pillow on the Mississippi, as part of the Yazoo Pass Expedition, she was sunk on 12 December 1862, while clearing mines for the attack on Haines Bluff. Cairo was the first ship ever to be sunk by a remotely detonated by hand. The remains of Cairo can be viewed at Vicksburg National Military Park with a museum of its weapons, Cairo was built by James Eads and Co. Mound City, Illinois, in 1861, by contract to the United States Department of War. She was commissioned as part of the Union Armys Western Gunboat Flotilla, Cairo served with the Armys Western Gunboat Flotilla on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, and their tributaries until she was transferred to the Navy on 1 October 1862, with the other river gunboats. She was commanded by Flag Officer Andrew Hull Foote, on 6 June 1862, two days later, Cairo joined in the triumph of seven Union ships and a tug over eight Confederate gunboats off Memphis. Five of the gunboats were sunk or run ashore during this action. That night, Union forces occupied the city, Cairo returned to patrol on the Mississippi until 21 November, when she joined the Yazoo Pass Expedition. Like many of the Mississippi theatre ironclads, Cairo had her armament changed over the life of the vessel. To speed up her entrance into the service, Cairo and the other City-class ships were fitted with weapons were on hand. Though the 8 in smoothbore Dahlgren guns were modern, most of the other original weapons were antiquated, such as the 32-pounders, or modified. These were, old smoothbores that had made into rifles. The 42-pounder weapons were of concern to military commanders because they were structurally weaker. Additionally, the confines of combat on the rivers greatly increased the threat of boarding parties. The 12-pounder howitzer was equipped to address that concern and was not used in regular combat, over the years, the gunboat was forgotten and slowly covered by silt and sand. Impacted in mud, Cairo became a time capsule in which her unique, historical artifacts were preserved against corrosion and her whereabouts became a matter of speculation, as members of the crew had died and local residents were unsure of the location
12.
Battle of Chickasaw Bayou
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The Battle of Chickasaw Bayou, also called the Battle of Walnut Hills, fought December 26–29,1862, was the opening engagement of the Vicksburg Campaign during the American Civil War. Confederate forces under Lt. Gen. John C, pemberton repulsed an advance by Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman that was intended to lead to the capture of Vicksburg, Mississippi. On December 27, the Federals pushed their lines forward through the swamps toward the Walnut Hills, on December 28, several futile attempts were made to get around these defenses. On December 29, Sherman ordered an assault, which was repulsed with heavy casualties. This Confederate victory frustrated Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grants attempts to take Vicksburg by a direct approach. Starting in November 1862, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant split his 70, Sherman commanded the Right Wing, or XIII Corps, Army of the Tennessee, redesignated the XV Corps on December 22. His expeditionary force of 32,000 troops was organized into four divisions, andrew J. Smith, Morgan L. Smith, George W. Morgan, and Frederick Steele. Grants wing marched south down the Mississippi Central Railroad, making a base at Holly Springs. He planned an assault in the direction of Vicksburg. After advancing up the Yazoo River, the transports disembarked Shermans men at Johnsons Plantation, opposite Steeles Bayou, the Confederate forces opposing Shermans advance were from the Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana, commanded by Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton, a Pennsylvanian who chose to fight for the South, the officer in direct command of the defenses of Vicksburg was Maj. Gen. Martin L. Smith, who commanded four brigades led by Brig. Vaughn, John Gregg, and Edward D. Tracy, Brig. Gen. Stephen D. Lee commanded a provisional division with brigades commanded by Cols. William T. Withers and Allen Thomas, Lee was the commander of the Confederate defense in the Walnut Hills until the arrival late on December 29 of Maj. Gen. Carter L. Stevenson. Although the Union forces outnumbered the men to their front by two to one, they faced a formidable maze of both natural and man-made defenses, first was a thick entanglement of trees, which was broken intermittently by swampland. Furthermore, the Confederates had formed dense barriers using felled trees for abatis, on December 26, Sherman deployed the brigades of Col. John F. DeCourcy and Brig. David Stuart and Francis P. Blair, Jr. to perform reconnaissance and they moved slowly ahead through the difficult terrain, skirmishing with S. D. Lees covering force that had been at Mrs. Lakes plantation. On December 28, Steeles division attempted to turn the Confederate right flank, on the morning of December 29, Sherman ordered an artillery bombardment of the Confederate defenses to weaken them before a general Federal advance. For almost four hours, a duel took place all along the line of battle
13.
Yazoo Pass Expedition
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Grants objective was to get his troops into a flanking position against the Rebel defenders. The expedition was an effort to bypass the Confederate defenses on the bluffs near the city by using the backwaters of the Mississippi Delta as a route from the Mississippi River to the Yazoo River. Once on the Yazoo, the Army would be able to cross the river unopposed, the operation would require a deep penetration into enemy territory that was dominated by water, so cooperation between the two services was necessary. The Army was led by Brigadier General Leonard F. Ross, Naval commander was Lieutenant Commander Watson Smith, who was in extremely poor health, his health was an important factor in the ultimate failure of the expedition. From the start, the expedition was delayed by obstacles that were more serious than the perfunctory Confederate resistance. Because progress was so slow, the Confederate Army under Lieutenant General John C, Pemberton was able to set up a fort and block passage of the Federal fleet near the town of Greenwood, Mississippi. The Federal fleet did not approach the fort until March 11, then, the Army troops present could not contribute significantly to the battle because of the nature of the ground, much of which was under water. Following the third repulse on March 16, Lieutenant Commander Smiths health failed him completely, Foster and Ross decided to withdraw to the Mississippi. The entire force had returned by April 12, and the expedition was over, the Vicksburg Campaign was bogged down in early 1863, following the repulse of the Union forces under Brigadier General William T. Sherman at Walnut Hills late the previous year. One of the operations he put in motion became known as the Yazoo Pass Expedition because it used a waterway of that name. The western part of the state of Mississippi, from the Tennessee state line to the north, as such, it is quite low, in many places, it is in fact lower than the level of the river. The region is occupied by numerous marshes, brakes, sloughs, bayous, lakes, creeks. Until the middle of the century, overflow from the Mississippi continued to pass into these waters. One such route left the Mississippi at a point a little south of Helena, Arkansas, passed through Moon Lake, the Coldwater is a tributary of the Tallahatchie River, which combines with the Yalobusha to form the Yazoo River at Greenwood, Mississippi. The Yazoo then flows 188 miles, to reenter the Mississippi a short distance above Vicksburg and this changed in 1856, however, when the coming of the railroad induced the state to drain some of the land for agricultural uses. To that end, they built levees to confine the river to its main course. Deprived of its source, the water level behind the levee dropped as much as eight feet. The Army and Navy had distinct but not incompatible reasons to get their forces to the east of Vicksburg, Grant wanted to get his soldiers onto dry ground with no rivers between him and the Confederate defense
14.
Steele's Bayou Expedition
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Its aim was to move Union forces from the Mississippi River to a point on the Yazoo River upstream of Confederate Lieutenant General John C. The army and navy contingents of the expedition moved separately, although their movements were coordinated, the naval flotilla moved into Steeles Bayou on March 14,1863. Two army transports followed them on the leg, others were to come later if the route were to prove satisfactory. Traversing Steeles Bayou was not particularly difficult, but the leg, along Deer Creek. The waterway, narrow and with frequent turns, forced the vessels to move at snails pace, exploiting this, the Rebels further impeded progress by felling trees across the stream, and brought the Union force to a halt within 1.5 miles of the Rolling Fork. The flotilla would have retreated, but Confederate troops got in their rear on Deer Creek, the soldiers, with the personal prodding of Major General William T. Sherman, made a forced march that got to the flotilla on March 22. They easily drove off the Confederate patrols that were blocking the retreat, so Porter, by March 27, the entire expedition was back on the Mississippi, having accomplished nothing. The Steeles Bayou Expedition was Grants last attempt to attack Pembertons right flank, following its failure, he turned his attention to the enemy left flank, and soon began the movement that led to the capture of Vicksburg. The campaign to capture the Confederate stronghold at Vicksburg, Mississippi, the Unions Major General Ulysses S. Grant had put into motion several operations aiming at flanking Confederate Lieutenant General John C. Writing in his memoirs long after the event, he stated that he did not have confidence that any of them would prove successful. Grant and Acting Rear Admiral David D. Porter therefore set one more operation in motion, like the others, it was an effort to get on the enemy flank, it had the additional purpose of relieving some of the pressure on the earlier expedition. To avoid the lethargy in command that had hampered the Yazoo Pass operation, Porter himself went with the gunboats, Grants orders to Sherman lay out the course of the expedition. They also show that he was not completely sure of its success, the expedition was very much limited by the geography of the Mississippi Delta, the flood plain of the river occupying most of northwestern Mississippi. The land is low and is in fact lower in many places than the river. The region is characterized by marshes, brakes, sloughs, bayous, lakes, creeks. Until the middle of the century, overflow from the Mississippi continued to pass into these waters. When railroads provided more convenient commerce, however, levees to contain the flow had been built, then, when the war came, the levee was breached for the Yazoo Pass expedition, and the land was again flooded. Minor waterways swelled to the size of small rivers, raising the possibility that Union gunboats could travel on them
15.
Grierson's Raid
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Griersons Raid was a Union cavalry raid during the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. It ran from April 17 to May 2,1863, as a diversion from Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grants main attack plan on Vicksburg, Mississippi. Early in 1863, Major General Charles Hamilton, the commander of the Corinth section of Grants division, subsequently, due to Hamiltons insistence on procuring a command that would garner him more glory, Hamilton offered his resignation. Up until this time in the war, Confederate cavalry commanders such as Nathan Bedford Forrest, John Hunt Morgan, stuart had ridden circles around the Union, and it was time to out-do the Confederates in cavalry expeditions. The task fell to Col. Benjamin Grierson, a music teacher who, oddly. Griersons cavalry brigade consisted of the 6th and 7th Illinois and 2nd Iowa Cavalry regiments, total casualties for Griersons Brigade during the raid were three killed, seven wounded, and nine missing. Five sick and wounded men were left behind along the route, pemberton, commander of the Vicksburg garrison, had few cavalry and could do nothing to stop Grierson. The premier Confederate cavalry commander, Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, was off chasing another Union raider, Col. Abel Streight, in Alabama, while Streights Raid failed, it did distract Forrest and this probably allowed the success of Griersons Raid. Although many Confederate cavalry units pursued Grierson vigorously across the state, battle of Newtons Station Clan Grierson Laliki, Tom. Griersons Raid, A Daring Cavalry Strike Through the Heart of the Confederacy, farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York. Roughshod Through Dixie – Grierson’s Raid 1863, Osprey Raid Series #12, Osprey Publishing
16.
Battle of Grand Gulf
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The Battle of Grand Gulf was fought on April 29,1863, during the American Civil War. In the summer of 1862 Confederate field artillery had periodically harassed naval vessels from Grand Gulf, the town was largely burned in 1862 during bombardment and raids as the Federals attempted to suppress construction of earthworks around the town. However, construction of Confederate batteries with heavy artillery resumed in March 1863, the primary works at the time of the April 1863 battle were two earthen forts, Fort Cobun and Fort Wade. Atop Point of Rock, Fort Cobun was the stronger fortification due to its elevation, Fort Wade sat only 20 feet above the river, approximately three quarters of a mile downstream and a quarter of mile from the waters edge. Rifle pits ran along the ridge connecting the two works, gen. John A. McClernands XIII Corps who were on the accompanying transports and barges. The attack by Benton, Lafayette, Tuscumbia, Carondelet, Louisville, Mound City, during the fight, the armored vessels moved within 100 yards of the Confederate guns at Fort Cobun. The union gunboats successfully silenced the batteries of Fort Wade. The Union ironclads and the transports drew off, after dark, however, the ironclads engaged the Confederate guns again while the steamboats and barges ran the gauntlet. Grant marched his men overland across Coffee Point to below the Gulf, after the transports had passed Grand Gulf, they embarked the troops at Disharoons plantation and disembarked them on the Mississippi shore at Bruinsburg, below Grand Gulf. The men immediately began marching overland toward Port Gibson, Mississippi, the Confederates had won a hollow victory, the loss at Grand Gulf caused just a slight change in Grants offensive. Vicksburg, The Campaign that Opened the Mississippi, chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press,2004. Vol.2, Grant Strikes a Fatal Blow,8, The Confederate Magazine at Fort Wade Grand Gulf, Mississippi, Excavations 1980-1981. Mississippi Department of Archives and History,1982, national Park Service battle description CWSAC Report Update
17.
Battle of Snyder's Bluff
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The Battle of Snyders Bluff or Snyders Mill was fought from April 29 to May 1,1863, during the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. Union forces under Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman conducted a feint against Confederate units holding the bluff, to ensure that troops were not withdrawn to Grand Gulf to assist Confederates there, a combined Union Army–Navy force feigned an attack on Snyders Bluff, Mississippi. At 9 a. m. the next morning, the force, minus one gunboat, continued upriver to Drumgoulds Bluff, during the fighting, the Choctaw suffered more than fifty hits, but no casualties occurred. Around 6 p. m. the troops disembarked and marched along Blakes Levee toward the guns, as they neared Drumgoulds Bluff, a battery opened on them, creating havoc and casualties. The Union advance halted and, after dark, the men reembarked on the transports, the next morning, transports disembarked other troops. The swampy terrain and enemy artillery fire forced them to retire. The gunboats opened fire again, about 3 p. m. on May 1, later, the boats fire slackened and stopped altogether after dark. Sherman had received orders to land his troops at Millikens Bend, national Park Service battle description CWSAC Report Update
18.
Battle of Port Gibson
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The Battle of Port Gibson was fought near Port Gibson, Mississippi, on May 1,1863, between Union and Confederate forces during the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. The Union Army was led by Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, Grant launched his campaign against Vicksburg, Mississippi, in the spring of 1863, starting his army south from Millikens Bend on the west side of the Mississippi River. He intended to storm Grand Gulf, while his subordinate Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman deceived the main army in Vicksburg by feigning an assault on the Yazoo Bluffs, Grant would then detach the XIII Corps to Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks at Port Hudson, Louisiana, while Sherman hurried to join Grant, McPherson for an inland move against the railroad. The Union fleet, however, failed to silence the Confederate batteries at Grand Gulf, Grant then sailed farther south and began crossing at Bruinsburg, Mississippi, on April 30. Shermans feint against the Yazoo Bluffs—the Battle of Snyders Bluff—was a complete success, Bowen moved south from Grand Gulf with Greens Brigade and took up a position astride the Rodney road just southwest of Port Gibson near Magnolia Church. A single brigade of reinforcements from Vicksburg under Brig. Gen. Edward D. Tracy arrived later and was posted across the Bruinsburg Road two miles north of Greens position, baldwins Brigade arrived later and was positioned in support of Greens Brigade. One-hundred-foot-tall hills separated by nearly vertical ravines choked with canebrakes and underbrush rendered Bowens position tenable, the absence of any Confederate cavalry would have a major impact on the campaign. If Bowen had known that Grants men were landing at Bruinsburg and not Rodney, he would have taken a position on the bluffs above Bruinsburg, denying Grants army a bridgehead into the area. Federal efforts to push rapidly inland were slowed because Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand had forgotten to issue rations to the men, despite the resulting delay, however, the Army of the Tennessee moved onto the river bluffs unopposed and pushed rapidly towards Port Gibson. Shortly after midnight on May 1, advanced elements of the 14th Division under Brig. Gen. Eugene A. Carr engaged Confederate pickets near the Shaifer House, sporadic skirmishing and artillery fire continued until 3 a. m. Wary of Tracys Brigade to the north, McClernand posted Brig. Gen. Peter J. Osterhauss 9th Division facing that direction, having developed each others positions, the opposing forces sat down and waited for daylight. General Carr scouted the ground before him and realized that an assault through the canebrakes would be fruitless. Brig. Gen. Alvin P. Hoveys 12th Division arrived and surged forward just as Carrs men were storming the Confederate position, both flanks were turned, and Greens men broke and ran. McClernand stopped to reorganize, then launched into a series of grandiose speeches until Grant pointed out that the Confederates had simply withdrawn to a defendable position. Reinforced by Brig. Gen. A. J. Smiths 10th Division and Stevensons Brigade of McPhersons XVII Corp, with 20,000 men crowded into a 1. 5-mile front, McClernands plan appeared to be to force his way past the Confederate line. A flanking assault by Col. Francis Cockrells Missourians crumpled the Federal right flank, sundown found the two sides settling into a stalemate along a broad front on the Rodney Road several miles from Port Gibson. McPherson showed up late in the afternoon with John E. Smiths brigade, donning a cloak to disguise his rank, he reviewed the front lines and quickly devised a turning movement that would render untenable the entire Confederate right flank
19.
Battle of Raymond
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The Battle of Raymond was fought on May 12,1863, near Raymond, Mississippi, during the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. The bitter fight pitted elements of Union Army Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grants Army of the Tennessee against Confederate forces of Lt. Gen. John C, Pembertons Department of the Mississippi and East Louisiana. The Confederates failed to prevent the Federal troops from reaching the Southern Railroad and isolating Vicksburg, Mississippi, from reinforcement, during the morning of the 12th, the Confederates enjoyed a two-to-one advantage in numbers, as they faced off across Fourteen Mile Creek against a single Federal brigade. The ranking Confederate officer, Brig. Gen. Gen. James B, the Union casualties at Raymond were 68 killed,341 wounded, and 37 missing. The Confederate casualties were nearly double,100 killed,305 wounded, the small battle had an inordinately large impact on the Vicksburg Campaign. Union interdiction of the railroad interrupted Pembertons attempt to consolidate his forces and prevented him from linking up with his commanding officer. As a result, Pemberton was limited to three options, abandon Vicksburg, withdraw into the city and accept a siege, or fight an engagement against a superior force. Facing conflicting orders from his superiors and open insurrection from his subordinates, Pemberton would be forced into the choice on May 16,1863. There they would form the wing of a force superior in size to the Federal army. In Raymond, arriving reinforcements would be supported by Wirt Adamss Cavalry Regiment, Adams had been ordered by Pemberton to leave his regiment in Raymond and ride to Edwards, Mississippi,15 miles away to organize the assorted cavalry attached to the Confederate main body. However, Adams elected to obey a subsequent order from Confederate Maj. Gen. John S. Bowen instructing him to bring his force to Edwards. The Confederate infantry making its way to Raymond by way of the rail and road included Greggs and Maxeys overstrength brigades from Port Hudson, Louisiana, walkers and States Rights Gists brigades from the east. Complicating the journey, however, was Griersons Raid, which rendered unusable portions of the railroad east of Jackson and about 50 miles of south of Brookhaven. Greggs men consequently marched all but 85 miles of the 200 mile journey from Port Hudson to Jackson, a second cavalry raid, launched by Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson, cut the railroad just north of Brookhaven, trapping the cars of the Jackson & New Orleans Railroad with General Maxeys brigade too far south to assist in the ensuing battle. After being granted a day of rest on the Pearl River just north of Jackson, subsequently, Greggs brigade arrived in Raymond late in the afternoon, and dropped to rest as soon as halted. The rest would prove to be a short one, rather than finding Wirt Adamss cavalry regiment guarding the roads into town, Gregg found the network of roads posted by a five-man detachment of Confederate cavalry and a company of state cavalry. Gregg was forced to picket the roads out of town with his weary infantry, unbeknownst to anyone in the Confederate army, McPhersons men of the XVII Corps were lurking near Utica, Mississippi, maintaining strict drum and bugle silence and a strong cavalry screen
20.
Battle of Jackson, Mississippi
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The Battle of Jackson, fought on May 14,1863, in Jackson, Mississippi, was part of the Vicksburg Campaign in the American Civil War. On May 9, Gen. Johnston received a dispatch from the Confederate Secretary of War directing him to proceed at once to Mississippi and these corps, under the overall command of Grant, had crossed the Mississippi River south of Vicksburg and driven northeast toward Jackson. The railroad connections were to be cut to isolate the Vicksburg garrison, and if the Confederate troops in Jackson were defeated, they would be unable to threaten Grants flank or rear during his eventual assault on Vicksburg. Johnston consulted with the commander, Brig. Gen. John Gregg. Johnston ordered the evacuation of Jackson, but Gregg was to defend Jackson until the evacuation was completed, by 10 a. m. both Union army corps were near Jackson and had engaged the enemy. Rain, Confederate resistance, and poor defenses prevented heavy fighting until around 11 a. m. when Union forces attacked in numbers, in mid-afternoon, Johnston informed Gregg that the evacuation was complete and that he should disengage and follow. Soon after, Union troops entered Jackson and had a celebration in the Bowman House, hosted by Grant and they then burned part of the town and cut the railroad connections with Vicksburg. Johnstons evacuation of Jackson was premature because he could, by late on May 14, have had 11,000 troops at his disposal and by the morning of May 15, the fall of the former Mississippi state capital was a blow to Confederate morale. General Sherman appointed Brig. Gen. Joseph A. Mower to the position of governor of Jackson. With the discovery of a supply of rum, it was impossible for Mowers Brigade to keep order among the mass of soldiers and camp followers. Grant left Jackson on the afternoon of May 15 and proceeded to Clinton, on the morning of May 16 he sent orders for Sherman to move out of Jackson as soon as the destruction was complete. Sherman marched almost immediately, clearing the city by 10 a. m, by nightfall on May 16, Shermans corps reached Bolton, Mississippi, and the Confederacy had reoccupied what remained of Jackson. Jackson had been destroyed as a center and the war industries were crushed. But more importantly the Confederate concentration of men and materials aimed at saving Vicksburg were scattered, Sherman would later lead an expedition against Jackson following the fall of Vicksburg to clear Johnstons relief force from the area. National Park Service battle description CWSAC Report Update
21.
Battle of Champion Hill
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The Battle of Champion Hill, fought May 16,1863, was the pivotal battle in the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. Union commander Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and the Army of the Tennessee pursued the retreating Confederate Lt. Gen. John C, Pemberton and defeated his army twenty miles to the east of Vicksburg, Mississippi, leading inevitably to the Siege of Vicksburg and surrender. The battle is known as Bakers Creek. Following the Union occupation of Jackson, Mississippi, on May 14, general Joseph E. Johnston, commanding all Confederate forces in Mississippi, retreated with most of his army up the Canton Road. However, he ordered Lt. Gen. John C, Pemberton, commanding three divisions totaling about 23,000 men, to leave Edwards Station and attack the Federals at Clinton. Pemberton and his generals felt that Johnstons plan was likely to result in disaster, on May 16, however, Pemberton received another message from Johnston repeating his former orders. Pemberton had already started after the trains and was on the Raymond-Edwards Road. When he obediently ordered a countermarch, his rear, including his supply wagons, had become the vanguard of his attack, around 7 am on May 16, Union forces engaged the Confederates and the Battle of Champion Hill began. Pembertons force formed into a three-mile -long defensive line ran southwest to northeast along a crest of a ridge overlooking Jackson Creek. Grant wrote in his Personal Memoirs, where Pemberton had chosen his position to receive us, whether taken by accident or design, was well selected. It is one of the highest points in that section, Pemberton was unaware that one of the three Union columns was moving along the Jackson Road against his unprotected left flank on Champion Hill. Pemberton posted Brig. Gen. Stephen D. Lees Alabama brigade on Champion Hill where they could watch for a Union column reported moving on the crossroads, lee soon spotted the Union troops and they in turn saw him. If enemy force was not stopped, it would cut the Confederates off from their Vicksburg base, Pemberton was warned of Union movement and sent troops to defend his left flank. Union forces at the Champion House moved into action and their artillery began firing, when Grant arrived at Champion Hill at about 10,00 a. m. he ordered an attack to begin. John A. McClernands corps attacked on the left and James B, William T. Shermans corps was well behind the others, departing from Jackson. By 11,30 a. m. the Union forces had reached the Confederates main line, at 1,00 p. m. they took the crest, the troops from Carter L. Stevensons division retiring in disorder. McPhersons corps swept forward, capturing the crossroads and closing the Jackson Road escape route, the division of John S. Bowen counterattacked in support of Stevenson, pushing the Federals back beyond the Champion Hill crest before their surge was halted. However, they were too few to hold the position, Pemberton directed William W. Loring to send forces from the southern area of the line, where they were only lightly engaged with McClernands ineffective attack, to reinforce the Hill
22.
Battle of Milliken's Bend
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The Battle of Millikens Bend, fought June 7,1863, was part of the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. Pemberton and his army were besieged in Vicksburg, Mississippi, by Union commander Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, in an effort to cut Grants supply line and relieve the city, the Confederates attacked the Union supply area at Millikens Bend up the Mississippi. The Millikens Bend area,15 miles to the northwest of Vicksburg, had recently served as a staging area for Grants Vicksburg Campaign. It was a site of supply depots and hospitals, many of which were manned and guarded by black soldiers, some of whom were recently recruited men who were freed slaves. Confederate President Jefferson Davis was under political pressure to come to the aid of the besieged Pemberton and his 40,000 troops. Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith to send troops to break up that supply line, unknown to either Smith or Davis, Grant had recently shifted his supply lines to the east bank of the Mississippi above Vicksburg. Smith ordered Maj. Gen. Richard Taylor to mount this attack and he assigned Maj. Gen. John George Walkers Division of Texans, known as Walkers Greyhounds, to Taylors command for that purpose. Taylor objected, citing the marshy nature of the terrain and the uncertainty that the line still existed. He preferred instead to take Walkers troops south to attack a vulnerable New Orleans, banks Army of the Gulf to Port Hudson. Smith rejected Taylors plan, and Taylor reluctantly left with Walker and his men, going down the Red River from Alexandria to the Ouachita River, and from there north toward Richmond, Louisiana. On the morning of June 6, Union Colonel Hermann Lieb with the African Brigade, about three miles from Richmond, Lieb encountered enemy troops at the Tallulah railroad depot and drove them back but then retired, fearing that many more Rebels might be near. While retiring, a squad of Union cavalry appeared, fleeing from a force of Rebels, Lieb got his men into battle line and helped disperse the pursuing enemy. He then retired to Millikens Bend and informed his superior by courier of his actions, the 23rd Iowa Infantry and two gunboats came to his assistance. Walker proceeded east from Richmond at 7 p. m, at midnight, he reached Oaklawn Plantation, which was situated about 7 miles from Millikens Bend to the north and an equal distance from Youngs Point to the south. Around 3,00 a. m. on June 7, Confederates appeared in force and they continued their movement towards the Union left flank. The Federal forces fired some volleys that caused the Rebel line to pause momentarily, in spite of receiving more volleys, the Rebels came on, and hand-to-hand combat ensued. In this intense fighting, the Confederates succeeded in flanking the Union force, the Union force fell back to the river’s bank. About that time Union gunboats Choctaw and Lexington appeared and fired on the Rebels, the Confederates continued firing and began extending to their right to envelop the Federals but failed in their objective
23.
Battle of Helena
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The Battle of Helena was a land battle of the American Civil War fought on July 4,1863, at Helena, Arkansas. The battle was a Confederate attempt to pressure on the besieged city of Vicksburg. The victory secured eastern Arkansas for the United States, Holmes wrote to General Kirby Smith, commander of the Trans-Mississippi Department, and received permission to attack Helena. Infantry under Major-General Sterling Price and cavalry under Brigadier-General John Marmaduke would move from Jacksonport to the vicinity of Helena, Price and Marmaduke would meet up with infantry out of Little Rock, under Brigadier-General James Fagan. Holmes, accompanied by Arkansas Governor Harris Flanagin, travelled to Helena to take command of the attack. Major-General Benjamin Prentiss, in command of the District of Eastern Arkansas, was headquartered at Helena with approximately 20,000 troops, four artillery batteries with breastworks and rifle pits were placed in a semicircle around the town. In addition, the USS Tyler, a gunboat was assigned to support Prentiss. Prentiss received word that an attack was in the works and actively worked to slow the movement of Confederate forces by felling trees, Helena itself was overcrowded with federal troops and was suffering from housing shortages and poor health and sanitation facilities. Occupying soldiers dubbed the town Hell-in Arkansas, just prior to the battle, a large number of troops were transferred to Vicksburg to strengthen the siege around that city. This transfer left only about 4,000 Union soldiers to protect the Federal enclave at Helena, Holmes planned for a dawn attack with Marmadukes 1,700 dismounted cavalry attacking fortified Rightor Hill northwest of the town and capturing the artillery battery stationed there. Fagans 1,300 men were assigned to capture Hindmans Hill southwest of the city, Brigadier-General Lucius Walker was assigned the task of guarding Marmadukes flank and preventing Union reinforcements from reaching Rightor Hill. The main attack however, would place in the center with Sterling Prices 3,100 men seizing Graveyard Hill. Marmadukes assault ran into trouble quickly and began taking artillery and small fire from his left flank. Walker was supposed to intervene for Marmaduke, but failed to come to his aid out of concern for his own exposed position, walkers failure would eventually lead to bad blood between Marmaduke and Walker that would end in a bloody duel during the campaign for Little Rock. The southwest and center elements of the Confederate attack also suffered from failed communications, Fagan and Price failed to coordinate their attacks due to Holmes vague order to attack at daylight. Price interpreted this order to mean an attack at sunrise and Fagan interpreted it to mean an attack at first light, Fagan was surprised to find his attack on Hindman Hill was opposed by artillery fire from Graveyard Hill. Fagan had expected Price to be engaged already with that battery, Fagans artillery had not been able to reach the battlefield because of felled trees blocking the road. Fagan had no artillery available to silence the Federal guns and had no choice, Fagans men reached the summit of the hill and managed to seize the outer fortifications but were pinned down just short of the summit by the two Union batteries
24.
Siege of Vicksburg
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The Siege of Vicksburg was the final major military action in the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. In a series of maneuvers, Union Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his Army of the Tennessee crossed the Mississippi River and drove the Confederate Army of Mississippi, Pemberton, into the defensive lines surrounding the fortress city of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Vicksburg was the last major Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River, therefore, capturing it completed the part of the Northern strategy. When two major assaults against the Confederate fortifications were repulsed with casualties, Grant decided to besiege the city beginning on May 25. With no reinforcement, supplies nearly gone, and after holding out for more than forty days, the successful ending of the Vicksburg Campaign significantly degraded the ability of the Confederacy to maintain its war effort, as described in the Aftermath section of the campaign article. Ballard, p. 308—suggest that the battle in the campaign was actually the Battle of Champion Hill. This action yielded command of the Mississippi River to the Union forces, attempts to stop the Union advance at Champion Hill and Big Black River Bridge were unsuccessful. Pemberton knew that the corps under Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman was preparing to flank him from the north, he had no choice but to withdraw or be outflanked. Pemberton burned the bridges over the Big Black River and took everything edible in his path, both animal and plant, as he retreated to the city of Vicksburg. Grant could now receive supplies more directly than by the previous route, large masses of Union troops were on the march to invest the city, repairing the burnt bridges over the Big Black River, which Grants forces crossed on May 18. Johnston sent a note to his general, Pemberton, asking him to sacrifice the city and save his troops, Washburn, XVII Corps, under Maj. Gen. James B. Pembertons Confederate Army of Mississippi inside the Vicksburg line consisted of four divisions, carter L. Stevenson, John H. Forney, Martin L. Smith, John S. Bowen. As the Confederate forces approached Vicksburg, Pemberton could put only 18,500 troops in his lines, Grant had over 35,000, with more on the way. However, Pemberton had the advantage of terrain and fortifications that made his defense nearly impregnable, the defensive line around Vicksburg ran approximately 6.5 miles, based on terrain of varying elevations that included hills and knobs with steep angles for an attacker to ascend under fire. The perimeter included many gun pits, forts, trenches, redoubts, Grant wanted to overwhelm the Confederates before they could fully organize their defenses and ordered an immediate assault against Stockade Redan for May 19. This first attempt was easily repulsed, the assault collapsed in a melee of rifle fire and hand grenades lobbing back and forth. The failed Federal assaults of May 19 damaged Union morale, deflating the confidence the soldiers felt after their string of victories across Mississippi. They were also costly, with casualties of 157 killed,777 wounded, the Confederates, assumed to be demoralized, had regained their fighting edge
25.
Jackson Expedition
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The Jackson Expedition occurred in the aftermath of the surrender of Vicksburg, Mississippi in July 1863. Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman led the expedition to clear General Joseph E. Johnstons relief effort from the Vicksburg area, during the Siege of Vicksburg Johnston had been gathering troops at Jackson, intending to relieve pressure on Lt. Gen. John C. Johnston cautiously advanced his 30,000 soldiers toward the rear of Grants army surrounding Vicksburg, in response, Grant ordered Sherman to deal with Johnstons threat. By July 1,1863, Johnstons force was in position along the Big Black River, Sherman used the newly arrived IX Corps to counter this threat. On July 5, the day after the surrender of Vicksburg was made official, Johnston hastily withdrew his force across the Big Black River and Champions Hill battlefields with Sherman in pursuit. Sherman had with him the IX Corps, XV Corps, XIII Corps, on July 10 the Union Army had taken up position around Jackson. The heaviest fighting came on July 11 during an unsuccessful Union attack, Brig. Gen. Jacob G. Lauman ordered a brigade under Col. Isaac C. Pugh to attack the Confederate works manned by Brig. Gen. Daniel W. Adamss brigade, as a result Lauman was relieved of command for failing to properly carry out the orders of his superior Maj. Gen. E. O. C. Ord, which resulted in heavy casualties, instead of risking entrapment, Johnston chose to evacuate the state capital and withdrew on July 16. Shermans forces occupied the city the following day, the capture of the city effectively ended the last threat to Vicksburg. Korn, Jerry, and the Editors of Time-Life Books, war on the Mississippi, Grants Vicksburg Campaign. Map of Union and Confederate works around Jackson, Plate 37 Map of Laumans attack
26.
Union Army
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The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War,1861 to 1865. It included the permanent regular army of the United States, which was augmented by numbers of temporary units consisting of volunteers as well as conscripts. The Union Army fought and eventually defeated the Confederate Army during the war, at least two and a half million men served in the Union Army, almost all were volunteers. About 360,000 Union soldiers died from all causes,280,000 were wounded and 200,000 deserted. When the American Civil War began in April 1861, there were only 16,000 men in the U. S. Army, and of these many Southern officers resigned and joined the Confederate army. The U. S. Army consisted of ten regiments of infantry, four of artillery, Lincolns call forced the border states to choose sides, and four seceded, making the Confederacy eleven states strong. The war proved to be longer and more extensive than anyone North or South had expected, the call for volunteers initially was easily met by patriotic Northerners, abolitionists, and even immigrants who enlisted for a steady income and meals. Over 10,000 Germans in New York and Pennsylvania immediately responded to Lincolns call, as more men were needed, however, the number of volunteers fell and both money bounties and forced conscription had to be turned to. Nevertheless, between April 1861 and April 1865, at least two and a million men served in the Union Army, of whom the majority were volunteers. It is a misconception that the South held an advantage because of the percentage of professional officers who resigned to join the Confederate army. At the start of the war, there were 824 graduates of the U. S, Military Academy on the active list, of these,296 resigned or were dismissed, and 184 of those became Confederate officers. Of the approximately 900 West Point graduates who were civilians,400 returned to the Union Army and 99 to the Confederate. Therefore, the ratio of Union to Confederate professional officers was 642 to 283, the South did have the advantage of other military colleges, such as The Citadel and Virginia Military Institute, but they produced fewer officers. The Union Army was composed of numerous organizations, which were generally organized geographically, Military Division A collection of Departments reporting to one commander. Military Divisions were similar to the modern term Theater, and were modeled close to, though not synonymous with. Department An organization that covered a region, including responsibilities for the Federal installations therein. Those named for states usually referred to Southern states that had been occupied and it was more common to name departments for rivers or regions. District A subdivision of a Department, there were also Subdistricts for smaller regions
27.
Major general (United States)
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In the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, and United States Air Force, major general is a two-star general-officer rank, with the pay grade of O-8. Major general ranks above brigadier general and below lieutenant general, a major general typically commands division-sized units of 10,000 to 15,000 soldiers. Major general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral in the United States Navy. The United States Code explicitly limits the number of general officers that may be on active duty at any given time. The total number of active duty general officers is capped at 231 for the Army,61 for the Marine Corps, some of these slots are reserved or finitely set by statute. This promotion board then generates a list of officers it recommends for promotion to general rank and this list is then sent to the service secretary and the Joint Chiefs of Staff for review before it can be sent to the President, through the Secretary of Defense for consideration. The President nominates officers to be promoted from this list with the advice of the Secretary of Defense, the secretary, and if applicable. The President may nominate any eligible officer who is not on the recommended list if it serves in the interest of the nation, the Senate must then confirm the nominee by a majority vote before the officer can be promoted. Once confirmed, the nominee is promoted to rank on assuming a position of office that requires an officer to hold the rank. For positions of office that are reserved by statute, the President nominates an officer for appointment to fill that position, since the grade of major general is permanent, the rank does not expire when the officer vacates a two-star position. Tour length varies depending on the position, by statute, and/or when the officer receives a new assignment or a promotion, in the case of the Air National Guard, they may also serve as The Adjutant General for their state, commonwealth or territory. Other than voluntary retirement, statute sets a number of mandates for retirement of general officers, all major generals must retire after five years in grade or 35 years of service, whichever is later, unless appointed for promotion or reappointed to grade to serve longer. Otherwise, all officers must retire the month after their 64th birthday. However, the Secretary of Defense may defer a general officers retirement until the officers 66th birthday, because there are a finite number of General Officer positions, one officer must retire before another can be promoted. As a result, general officers typically retire well in advance of the age and service limits. The rank of general was abolished in the U. S. Army by the Act of March 16,1802. Major general has been a rank in the U. S. Army ever since, to address this anomaly, Washington was posthumously promoted by Congress to the rank of General of the Armies of the United States in 1976. The position of Major General Commanding the Army was entitled to three stars according to General Order No.6 of March 13,1861
28.
Ulysses S. Grant
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Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States. As Commanding General, Grant worked closely with President Abraham Lincoln to lead the Union Army to victory over the Confederacy in the American Civil War and he implemented Congressional Reconstruction, often at odds with President Andrew Johnson. His presidency has often criticized for tolerating corruption and for the severe economic depression in his second term. Grant graduated in 1843 from the United States Military Academy at West Point, after the war he married Julia Boggs Dent in 1848, their marriage producing four children. Grant initially retired from the Army in 1854 and he struggled financially in civilian life. When the Civil War began in 1861, he rejoined the U. S. Army, in 1862, Grant took control of Kentucky and most of Tennessee, and led Union forces to victory in the Battle of Shiloh, earning a reputation as an aggressive commander. He incorporated displaced African American slaves into the Union war effort, in July 1863, after a series of coordinated battles, Grant defeated Confederate armies and seized Vicksburg, giving the Union control of the Mississippi River and dividing the Confederacy in two. After his victories in the Chattanooga Campaign, Lincoln promoted him to lieutenant general, Grant confronted Robert E. Lee in a series of bloody battles, trapping Lees army in their defense of Richmond. Grant coordinated a series of devastating campaigns in other theaters, as well, in April 1865, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox, effectively ending the war. Historians have hailed Grants military genius, and his strategies are featured in history textbooks. After the Civil War, Grant led the armys supervision of Reconstruction in the former Confederate states and he also used the army to build the Republican Party in the South. After the disenfranchisement of some former Confederates, Republicans gained majorities, in his second term, the Republican coalitions in the South splintered and were defeated one by one as redeemers regained control using coercion and violence. In May 1875, Grant authorized his Secretary of Treasury Benjamin Bristow to shut down and his peace policy with the Indians initially reduced frontier violence, but is best known for the Great Sioux War of 1876. Grant responded to charges of corruption in executive offices more than any other 19th Century president and he appointed the first Civil Service Commission and signed legislation ending the corrupt moiety system. In foreign policy, Grant sought to trade and influence while remaining at peace with the world. His administration successfully resolved the Alabama claims by the Treaty of Washington with Great Britain, Grant avoided war with Spain over the Virginius Affair, but Congress rejected his attempted annexation of the Dominican Republic. His administration implemented a standard and sought to strengthen the dollar. Grant left office in 1877 and embarked on a two-year diplomatic world tour that captured the nations attention, in 1880, Grant was unsuccessful in obtaining the Republican presidential nomination for a third term
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Army of the Tennessee
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The Army of the Tennessee was a Union army in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, named for the Tennessee River. It should not be confused with the similarly named Army of Tennessee, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in the Unions District of West Tennessee. In April 1862, Grants troops survived a severe test in the bloody Battle of Shiloh. In October 1862, Grants command was reconfigured and elevated to status, as the Department of the Tennessee. Grant commanded these forces until after his critically important victory at Vicksburg in July 1863 and it should suffice to note that the nucleus around which was to gather the. Army of the Tennessee first took shape in 1861–1862, while Grant was headquartered at Cairo and those troops continued under Grant in his next command, the distinct District of West Tennessee, they were then sometimes, and perhaps most appropriately, called the Army of West Tennessee. During the course of the war, elements of the Army of the Tennessee performed many tasks, and it is not feasible to chronicle every such development here, even at the corps level. Rather, this article traces the main thrust of the armys development, at any given time, substantial numbers of troops were engaged in activities not discussed here. For example, in April 1863, less than half of Grants departmental strength was directly engaged in the Vicksburg Campaign, one of Grants wartime aides, John A. Rawlins, later stated that rom this time. Commenced the growth and organization of the Army of the Tennessee, paducah promptly became a separate Union command under Brig. Gen. Charles F. Smith, who soon occupied Smithland, Kentucky, at the junction of the Cumberland River and the Ohio. Grants own first engagement came on November 7 at Belmont, Missouri, Grants casualties in this first battle totaled about 500, Confederate casualties were similar. While Grant had suffered a repulse, he won favorable press coverage and this battle, reports Rawlins, confirmed General Grant in his views that he should give battle whenever he had what he thought a sufficient number of men. Also in November, John Fremont lost his command at St. Louis, to be replaced by Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck, on December 20, Grants command was reconfigured to include C. F. Smiths and renamed the District of Cairo, from that perch, in February 1862, Grant led the Union campaign against Fort Henry, on the Tennessee River, and Fort Donelson, on the Cumberland River. His troops for this campaign eventually numbered approximately 27,000 men, Smith, and Brig. Gen. Lewis Wallace. Grant initially moved up the Tennessee River to Fort Henry with only two divisions, McClernands and Smiths. On February 6, even before he could organize his force for attack, additional Union regiments arrived at Fort Donelson by water, these were formed into the new 3rd Division under Lew Wallace. The Battle of Fort Donelson began on February 13 and, after sharp fighting, another historian notes that Grants troops had performed prodigies of valor and endurance during the campaign and had learned from it that hard fighting would bring success
30.
Confederate States Army
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The Confederate States Army was the military ground force of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. S. Military Academy and colonel of a regiment during the Mexican War. In March 1861, the Provisional Confederate Congress established a more permanent Confederate States Army, the better estimates of the number of individual Confederate soldiers are between 750,000 and 1,000,000 men. This does not include a number of slaves who were pressed into performing various tasks for the army, such as construction of fortifications. Since these figures include estimates of the number of individual soldiers who served at any time during the war. These numbers do not include men who served in Confederate naval forces, although most of the soldiers who fought in the American Civil War were volunteers, both sides by 1862 resorted to conscription, primarily as a means to force men to register and to volunteer. In the absence of records, estimates of the percentage of Confederate soldiers who were draftees are about double the 6 percent of Union soldiers who were conscripts. Confederate casualty figures also are incomplete and unreliable, one estimate of Confederate wounded, which is considered incomplete, is 194,026. These numbers do not include men who died from causes such as accidents. Other Confederate forces surrendered between April 16,1865 and June 28,1865, by the end of the war, more than 100,000 Confederate soldiers had deserted. The Confederacys government effectively dissolved when it fled Richmond in April, by the time Abraham Lincoln took office as President of the United States on March 4,1861, the seven seceding slave states had formed the Confederate States. The Confederacy seized federal property, including nearly all U. S. Army forts, Lincoln was determined to hold the forts remaining under U. S. control when he took office, especially Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. Under orders from Confederate President Jefferson Davis, C. S. troops under the command of General P. G. T, Beauregard bombarded Fort Sumter on April 12–13,1861, forcing its capitulation on April 14. The Northern states were outraged by the Confederacys attack and demanded war and it rallied behind Lincolns call on April 15, for all the states to send troops to recapture the forts from the secessionists, to put down the rebellion and to preserve the Union intact. Four more slave states joined the Confederacy. The Confederate Congress provided for a Confederate army patterned after the United States Army and it was to consist of a large provisional force to exist only in time of war and a small permanent regular army. Although the two forces were to exist concurrently, very little was done to organize the Confederate regular army, the Provisional Army of the Confederate States began organizing on April 27. Virtually all regular, volunteer, and conscripted men preferred to enter this organization since officers could achieve a rank in the Provisional Army than they could in the Regular Army
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General officers in the Confederate States Army
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The general officers of the Confederate States Army were the senior military leaders of the Confederacy during the American Civil War of 1861–1865. They were often former officers from the United States Army prior to the Civil War, most Confederate generals needed confirmation from the Confederate Congress, much like prospective generals in the modern U. S. armed forces. Much of the design of the Confederate States Army was based on the structure, the Confederate Army was composed of three parts, the Army of the Confederate States of America, the Provisional Army of the Confederate States, and the various Southern state militias. Graduates from West Point and Mexican War veterans were highly sought after by Jefferson Davis for military service, like their Federal counterparts, the Confederate Army had both professional and political generals within it. Ranks throughout the CSA were roughly based on the U. S. Army in design and seniority. On February 27,1861, a staff for the army was authorized, consisting of four positions, an adjutant general, a quartermaster general, a commissary general. Initially the last of these was to be a staff officer only, the post of adjutant general was filled by Samuel Cooper and he held it throughout the Civil War, as well as the armys inspector general. As officers were appointed to the grades of general by Jefferson Davis. The dates of rank, as well as seniority of officers appointed to the grade on the same day, were determined by Davis usually following the guidelines established for the prewar U. S. Army. These generals were most often infantry or cavalry brigade commanders, aides to other higher ranking generals, and War Department staff officers. By wars end the Confederacy had at least 383 different men who held this rank in the PACS, the organization of regiments into brigades was authorized by the Congress on March 6,1861. Brigadier generals would command them, and these generals were to be nominated by Davis and these generals also often led sub-districts within military departments, with command over soldiers in their sub-district. These generals outranked Confederate Army colonels, who commonly led infantry regiments and this rank is equivalent to brigadier general in the modern U. S. army. These generals were most commonly infantry division commanders, aides to other higher ranking generals and they also led the districts that made up military departments, and had command over the troops in their districts. By wars end, the Confederacy had at least 88 different men who had held this rank, divisions were authorized by the Congress on March 6,1861, and major generals would command them. These generals were to be nominated by Davis and confirmed by the Senate, Major generals outranked brigadiers and all other lesser officers. This rank was not synonymous with the Unions use of it, as Northern major generals led divisions, corps and this rank is equivalent in most respects to major general in the modern U. S. Army. All of the Confederacys lieutenant generals were in the PACS, the Congress legalized the creation of army corps on September 18,1862, and directed that lieutenant generals lead them
32.
John C. Pemberton
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John Clifford Pemberton, was a career United States Army officer who fought in the Seminole Wars and with distinction during the Mexican–American War. He also served as a Confederate general during the American Civil War, noted for his defeat, Pemberton was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as the second child of John Pemberton, and Rebecca Clifford. He entered the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1833 and he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 4th U. S. Artillery Regiment on July 1,1837, Pemberton and the 4th Artillery served in garrison duty at Fort Columbus, New York, in 1838 and into 1839, and then at the Camp of Instruction located near Trenton, New Jersey, in 1839. He then served along the northern U. S. frontier during the brief Canadian Border Disturbances of the Aroostook War. Pemberton and the 4th were next stationed in Michigan, serving at Detroit in 1840, at Fort Mackinac in the upper Great Lakes in Michigan in 1840 and 1841, and at Fort Brady in 1841. He then served in Buffalo, New York, in 1841 to 1842, from 1845 to 1846, Pemberton and the 4th Artillery were part of the U. S. He fought at the Battle of Palo Alto on May 8,1846 and he then fought well at the Battle of Monterrey in that fall, and was appointed a brevet captain for Gallant Conduct in the several Conflicts at on September 23. Pemberton was appointed a major for his performance at Molino del Rey on September 8. He then was part of the storming of Chapultepec Castle on September 13, and the Battle for Mexico City that day and the next, where Pemberton was wounded. He was an member of the Aztec Club of 1847 - a military society founded by U. S. Army officers who served in Mexico City during the military occupation following the war. In 1848, Pemberton married Martha Thompson of Norfolk, Virginia, after the war with Mexico, Pemberton and the 4th Artillery served in garrison duty at Fort Pickens near Pensacola, Florida, in 1849. He then fought in Florida during hostilities against the Seminoles in 1849 and 1850, the 4th returned to garrison duty at New Orleans Barracks in New Orleans in Louisiana in 1850, and Pemberton was promoted to captain on September 16. He next served in Fort Washington, Maryland, along the lower Potomac River below the capital in 1851 and 1852, at Fort Hamilton, New York and he and the 4th Artillery fought again in Florida during further hostilities against the Seminoles from 1856 to 1857. Pemberton and the 4th was then on duty at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, from 1857 to 1858. Later in brief garrison duty at the Washington Arsenal in Washington and he resigned his commission, effective April 29, despite pleas from his family and his former commander Winfield Scott. His decision was due to the influence of his Virginia-born wife and he was promoted to colonel on May 8. On May 9, Pemberton took a commission as a lieutenant colonel in the Artillery of the Provisional Army of Virginia and his first brigade command was in the Department of Norfolk, leading its 10th Brigade from June to November
33.
Edwards, Mississippi
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Edwards is a town in Hinds County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 1,347 at the 2000 census and it is part of the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area. Edwards is named for Dick Edwards, owner and proprietor of the Edwards House in Jackson, Edwards was originally named Amsterdam and settled in the 1830s. In 1832 it suffered from an epidemic and was then bypassed by the Alabama. This happened in 1839 when R. O. Edwards plantation became a stop on the known as Edwards Depot. The depot was burned to prevent its use during the Civil War in 1863, the current site of Edwards was chosen in 1866 and was incorporated in 1871. In 1882 the Southern Christian Institute was opened by the Christian Church in the town to educate African-Americans, in 1897 Edwards suffered an attack of yellow fever that killed many residents of the town. Edwards is located at 32°19′51″N 90°36′15″W, according to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 1.7 square miles, all land. As of the census of 2000, there were 1,347 people,461 households, the population density was 808.2 people per square mile. There were 505 housing units at a density of 303.0 per square mile. The racial makeup of the town was 78. 92% African American,20. 19% White,0. 15% Asian,0. 07% from other races, hispanic or Latino of any race were 0. 97% of the population. 23. 0% of all households were made up of individuals and 10. 2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.90 and the average family size was 3.47. In the town, the population was out with 29. 6% under the age of 18,9. 0% from 18 to 24,27. 8% from 25 to 44,21. 1% from 45 to 64. The median age was 34 years, for every 100 females there were 82.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 75.6 males, the median income for a household in the town was $29,231, and the median income for a family was $31,786. Males had an income of $26,094 versus $19,500 for females. The per capita income for the town was $12,308, about 19. 0% of families and 22. 5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 32. 4% of those under age 18 and 18. 7% of those age 65 or over. The Town of Edwards is served by the Hinds County School District, betty Currie - Personal secretary of Bill Clinton, moved to Waukegan, Illinois as a child
34.
Abatis
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An abatis, abattis, or abbattis is a field fortification consisting of an obstacle formed of the branches of trees laid in a row, with the sharpened tops directed outwards, towards the enemy. The trees are usually interlaced or tied with wire, abatis are used alone or in combination with wire entanglements and other obstacles. There is evidence it was used as early as the Roman Imperial period, a classic use of an abatis was at the Battle of Carillon during the Seven Years War. The 3,600 French troops defeated an army of 16,000 British. The British found the defences almost impossible to breach and were forced to withdraw with some 2,600 casualties, an important weakness of abatis, in contrast to barbed wire, is that it can be destroyed by fire. An important advantage is that an improvised abatis can be formed in forested areas. This can be done by cutting down a row of trees so that they fall with their tops toward the enemy. An alternative is to place explosives so as to blow the trees down, abatis are rarely seen nowadays, having been largely replaced by wire obstacles. However, it may be used as a replacement or supplement when barbed wire is in short supply, a form of giant abatis, using whole trees instead of branches, can be used as an improvised anti-tank obstacle. Though rarely used by conventional military units, abatises are still officially maintained in United States Army. Furthermore, it is recommended that the trees remain connected to the stumps, US military maps record an abatis by use of an inverted V with a short line extending from it to the right. Zasechnaya cherta Pamplin Historical Park & The National Museum of the Civil War Soldier includes large and authentic reproduction of abatis used in the U. S. Civil War
35.
Brigadier general (United States)
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In the United States Armed Forces, brigadier general is a one-star general officer with the pay grade of O-7 in the U. S. Army, U. S. Marine Corps, and U. S. Air Force. Brigadier general ranks above a colonel and below major general, the rank of brigadier general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral in the other uniformed services. The rank of brigadier general has existed in the U. S. military since the inception of the Continental Army in June 1775, later, on June 18,1780, it was prescribed that brigadier generals would instead wear a single silver star on each epaulette. At first, brigadier generals were infantry officers who commanded a brigade, however, over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries, the responsibilities of the rank expanded significantly. During the period from March 16,1802, to January 11,1812, foreseeing the need for an expanded general staff in case of war, which seemed imminent, Congress restored the rank of major general in January 1812. The first brigadier general in the U. S. Marine Corps was Commandant Archibald Henderson, the insignia for a brigadier general is one silver star worn on the shoulder or collar, and has not changed since the creation of the rank two centuries ago. Since the Mexican-American War, however, the rank of colonel has been the normal rank appointed to command a brigade that is organic to a division. In an infantry brigade not organic to a division, a brigadier general serves as the units commander, an Air Force brigadier general typically commands a large wing. Additionally, one-star officers of all services may serve as staff officers in large military organizations. U. S. Code of law explicitly limits the number of general officers who may be on active duty. The total of active duty general officers is capped at 230 for the Army,60 for the Marine Corps, the President or Secretary of Defense may increase the number of general slots in one branch, so long as they subtract an equal number from another. Some of these slots are reserved by statute, for promotion to the permanent grade of brigadier general, eligible officers are screened by a promotion board consisting of general officers from their branch of service. This promotion board then generates a list of officers it recommends for promotion to general rank and this list is then sent to the service secretary and the joint chiefs for review before it can be sent to the President, through the defense secretary, for consideration. The President nominates officers to be promoted from this list with the advice of the Secretary of Defense, the secretary, and if applicable. The President may nominate any eligible officer who is not on the recommended list if it serves in the interest of the nation, the Senate must then confirm the nominee by a majority vote before the officer can be promoted. Once the nominee is confirmed, they are promoted to that once they assume or hold an office that requires or allows an officer of that rank. For positions of office reserved by statute, the President nominates an officer for appointment to fill that position, for all three uniformed services, because the grade of brigadier general is a permanent rank, the nominee may still be screened by an in-service promotion board. The rank does not expire when the officer vacates a one-star position, tour length varies depending on the position, by statute, or when the officer receives a new assignment
36.
Michael Kelly Lawler
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Michael Kelly Lawler was a volunteer militia soldier in the Black Hawk War, 1831-1832, an officer in the United States Army in both the Mexican-American War and the American Civil War. In the latter conflict, as a general he commanded a brigade of infantry in the Western Theater. In 1819, they moved to rural Gallatin County, Illinois, on the 20th day of December,1837 he married Elizabeth Crenshaw. He received an appointment as a captain in the Mexican War and he first led a company from Shawneetown Illinois that guarded the supply route from Vera Cruz to General Winfield Scotts Army. After the fall of Vera Cuz his company was discharged and he made a visit to Washington after which he was asked by Governor Thomas Ford to organize a company of riflemen. He served in the campaign to take Matamoros, Tamaulipas and he then returned to his farm in Illinois, where he was residing at the outbreak of the Civil War. He established a mercantile business, dealing in hardware, dry goods. He studied law, passed his bar exam, and used his legal license to help the claims of Mexican War veterans, in May 1861 he recruited the 18th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and was appointed as its first colonel. His time in command of the regiment in Kentucky and Tennessee was controversial and he was suffered a wound during the Battle of Fort Donelson. In November 1862 he was commissioned as a general. He fought with distinction in the Vicksburg Campaign in 1863 and he led his men in the battles of Port Gibson, Champions Hill, and Big Black River Bridge. And during the assault of May 22,1863, where troops under his command were the only Union forces to enter the Confederate works at the Railroad Redoubt where they planted the U. S. flag. Following the surrender of Jackson, Mississippi, the XIII Corps was split up, in the omnibus promotions at the end of the Civil War, Lawler received a promotion for distinguished service to major general in the Union army backdated from March 13,1865. After mustering out of the army in 1866, Lawler returned home and resumed his practice and farming near Shawneetown. He died in the summer 1882 and is buried in the Lawler Family Cemetery near Equality, Illinois, a memorial to Michael K. Lawler stands in Equality, Illinois. He also was honored with a marble bust in Vicksburg National Military Park in Vicksburg, Chicago named a street after Gen. Michael Lawler, The Civil War hero. Lawler Ave. Pitkin, William A. Michael K. Lawlers Ordeal with the Eighteenth Illinois Infantry, Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Vol.58, crichton, Jane, Michael Kelly Lawler, A Southern Illinois Mexican War Captain and Civil War General. Dorris, Jonathan T. Michael Kelly Lawler, Mexican and Civil War Officer, Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Vol.48, hicken, Victor, Illinois in the Civil War, Urbana and Chicago, University of Illinois Press,1991
37.
Eugene A. Carr
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Eugene Asa Carr was a soldier in the United States Army and a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Carr was born in Hamburg, New York and he graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, in 1850, 19th in a class of 44 cadets. By 1861 he had promoted to captain in the old 1st U. S. Cavalry. During the Civil War, Carrs first combat was at the Battle of Wilsons Creek on August 10,1861 and he was appointed colonel of the 3rd Illinois Cavalry six days later and received a brevet promotion to lieutenant colonel in the regular army. At the Battle of Pea Ridge in Arkansas, on March 7,1862 and he was wounded in the neck, arm and ankle and was later awarded a Medal of Honor for his actions. According to the citation, Carr had directed the deployment of his command and held his ground, under a brisk fire of shot. On April 30,1862, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Carr brigadier general of volunteers and he commanded the 2nd Division of the Army of Southeast Missouri before he and his division were transferred to the Army of the Tennessee as the 14th Division in the XIII Corps. During the Vicksburg Campaign Carr led the attack on Confederate forces at the Battle of Port Gibson and he fought in subsequent battles at Champions Hill and Vicksburg. After the fall of Vicksburg, Carr was transferred back to Arkansas where he was placed in command of a division in the Army of Arkansas, eventually Carr commanded the Cavalry Division in the VII Corps during Frederick Steeles Camden Expedition. For the rest of 1864 he commanded the District of Little Rock, on March 11,1865, President Lincoln nominated and the U. S. Senate confirmed Carr for appointment to the brevet grade of major general of volunteers to rank from March 11,1865. Carr was mustered out of the volunteers on January 15,1866, subsequently Carr stayed in the Regular Army and conducted successful operations on the frontier against the Indians, winning a significant battle at Summit Springs. He became Colonel of the 6th Cavalry Regiment in 1879, and he was in command at the incident at Cibecue Creek with the Apache in 1881. His military nickname was The Black-Bearded Cossack, Carr died in Washington, D. C. in 1910 and is buried in the West Point Cemetery, New York. Rank and organization, Colonel, 3d Illinois Cavalry, place and date, At Pea Ridge, Ark. Entered service at, Hamburg, Erie County, N. Y, born, March 10,1830, Boston Corner, Erie County, N. Y. Date of issue, January 16,1894, citation, Directed the deployment of his command and held his ground, under a brisk fire of shot and shell in which he was several times wounded. Claim to Fame, Medal of Honor recipients, Eicher, John H. and Eicher, David J. Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press,2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3. Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Blue, Lives of the Union Commanders, Louisiana State University Press,1964 and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Gilman, D. C
38.
Big Black River (Mississippi)
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Big Black River is a river in the U. S. state of Mississippi and a tributary of the Mississippi River. Its origin is in Webster County near the town of Eupora in the central part of the state. From there it flows 330 miles in a generally southwest direction until it merges with the Mississippi River 25 miles south of the city of Vicksburg and it is the major contributor to the Big Black River Basin. It forms part of the border of Choctaw County, passes through Montgomery County, and forms the eastern border of Holmes County. The Big Black River and most of its tributaries are silt-filled, the rivers carry large amounts of suspended sediment, resulting mostly from agricultural runoff. These tributaries are slow-flowing muddy streams, however, some are swift-flowing with sandy bottoms. The Battle of Big Black River Bridge, fought during the Battle of Vicksburg, was part of the Vicksburg Campaign in the American Civil War, the size of the Big Black River Basin drainage area is 3,400 square miles. Its elevation varies from 50 to 650 feet above sea level and it is 160 miles long and averages 22 to 25 miles wide. Most of its tributaries are in the upper part of the basin. The terrain is hilly with 56% of the forested and 39% used for farming. During the American Civil War, a battle between the Union and Confederate forces occurred along the Big Black River, culminating in the Siege of Vicksburg in 1863. Commanded by General Ulysses S. Grant, Union forces defeated Confederate troops under General John C, Pemberton at the Battle of Champion Hill. Grant chased Pemberton, who was headed toward Vicksburg, Pemberton left 5,000 troops to make a stand on both sides of the Big Black River after his Champion Hill defeat, while he withdrew with his main command to nearby Vicksburg. List of rivers of Mississippi Big Black River
39.
Civil War Trust
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The Civil War Trust is a charitable organization whose primary focus is in the preservation of American Civil War battlefields. The Civil War Trust also promotes educational programs and heritage tourism initiatives to inform the public of the wars history, the modern Civil War battlefield preservation movement was first undertaken by the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites, which was founded in 1987. APCWS not only protected thousands of acres of battlefields from destruction, the Civil War Trust, another non-profit focused on preserving Civil War battlefields, was formed in 1991. The Civil War Preservation Trust was created on November 19,1999, the merger, which was propelled by a unanimous vote of both boards, was effected in order to streamline and strengthen efforts to protect Americas most endangered parcels of Civil War history. On January 11,2011, the Civil War Preservation Trust shortened its name to the Civil War Trust, federal matching grants for this program were enacted by Congress in December 2014. The President of the Civil War Trust is O, since its formation, the Civil War Trust has grown to nearly 200,000 members and supporters and has permanently saved more than 40,000 acres of American Civil War battlefield land. The Civil War Trust is a organization that uses donated funds to protect Civil War battlefield land. Land is acquired by the Civil War Trust from private parties at fair market value or by donation. Once land is acquired, the Civil War Trust is responsible for stewardship and interpretation, often with assistance from local governments. In cases where a landowner wants to retain ownership the Civil War Trust can arrange a conservation easement to protect their property, Conservation easements ensure that the property remains free of development in future years. In its effort to preserve Civil War battlefields, the Civil War Trust attempts to leverage federal and state programs designed to foster preservation of historic, CWBPP is designed to promote the preservation of significant Civil War battlefields by offering competitive matching grants for qualifying preservation opportunities. Other federal sources include the Transportation Enhancement program and the Farm, the Civil War Trust has also leveraged funds made available by state and local governments. The Civil War Trust has preserved more than 42,000 acres of Civil War battlefields at more than 120 Civil War battlefields in 20 different states within the United States, the Civil War Trust, working in partnership with Tricord, Inc. SunTrust Bank, and the Central Virginia Battlefield Trust, was able to purchase the property for $12 million in 2006, the Slaughter Pen Farm was the largest remaining unprotected part of the Fredericksburg Battlefield. It is also the place on the battlefield where a visitor can still follow the Union assault from beginning to end. 209 acres at The Wilderness, Virginia In October 2010, the Civil War Trust announced a new and ambitious campaign to save 49-acre of the Wilderness Battlefield in Orange County, Virginia. This Middlebrook Tract includes the edge of Saunders Field and land associated with the May 6,1864 flank attack by Confederate forces under John B. Historian and author Gordon Rhea stated that this land witnessed some of the Wilderness most brutal combat
40.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
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Ed Bearss
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Edwin Cole Bearss, a United States Marine Corps veteran of World War II, is a military historian and author known for his work on the American Civil War and World War II eras. He is a tour guide of historic battlefields for The Smithsonian Associates. He served as Chief Historian of the National Park Service from 1981 to 1994 and is currently Chief Historian Emeritus. Bearss was born in Billings, Montana, the son of Omar Effinger Bearss and Virginia Louise Morse Bearss. Bearss graduated from Hardin High School in May 1941 and hitchhiked around the United States and he enlisted in the Marine Corps on April 28,1942, and by July was on a troop transport to the Pacific War. He was with the 3rd Marine Raider Battalion in the invasion of Guadalcanal, on January 2,1944, Bearss was severely wounded at Suicide Creek by Japanese machine gun fire. He was evacuated to California, and spent 26 months recovering in various hospitals and he was honorably discharged from the Marines as a corporal on March 15,1946, and returned home to Montana. Bill to finance his education at Georgetown University, from which he obtained a B. S. degree in Foreign Service studies in 1949. He worked for three years in the United States Navy Hydrographic Office in Maryland and used his time to visit numerous Civil War battlefields in the East. He received his M. A. in history from Indiana University in 1955, as part of his research, he visited the Western Theater battlefields on which Cleburne fought, telling friends, You cant describe a battlefield unless you walk it. In February 2005, Lincoln College awarded Bearss an honorary doctorate and it was at Vicksburg that he met his wife, Margie Riddle Bearss, also a Civil War historian, they were married on July 30,1958. They first lived in the Leila Luckett House in Vicksburg formerly occupied by then-Maj, gen. Ulysses S. Grants soldiers in 1863, and eventually had three children, Sara Beth, Edwin Cole, Jr. and Mary Virginia. At Vicksburg, Bearss did the research leading him and two friends to the long-lost Union gunboat U. S. S and he also located two forgotten forts at Grand Gulf, Mississippi. He was promoted in 1958 to Southeast regional historian, working out of Vicksburg, johnsons Ranch, Fort Moultrie, Fort Point, William Howard Taft House, Fort Hancock at the Boston Navy Yard, and the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site. In 1966, Bearss was transferred to Washington, D. C, on November 1,1981, he was named Chief Historian of the National Park Service, a position he held until 1994. From 1994 to 1995, he served as assistant to the director. After his retirement in 1995, he received the title Chief Historian Emeritus, in 1972, Bearss became a founding member of the Board of Advisors of Sea Research Society and participated in the creation of its College of Marine Arts. He was active in the Societys efforts to raise the wreck of the Civil War submarine Hunley, a Washington Post reporter described Bearss style as a guide as Homeric monologues
42.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
United States
Confederate States
