That Other Burg
By Morgan Gates
The American Civil War was the seminal conflict of American History, only the American Revolution that created our country was more important. No American War before or after can compare. Even World War II, massive and bloody as it was could not compare. For it was not fought on our soil and, heaven forbid, it had not worked out the way it did, The United States itself was not in any real sense in danger of conquest. The American Civil War was, in fact, significant on a worldwide scale. Remember since "the shot heard round the world" America had exerted a genuine Ideological influence on the rest of the world. What would have been the effect on the rest of the world if the "The Great Social Experiment" that was the USA had failed only "Four Score and Seven Years" after its inception?
Please remember dear fellow student of history, that a Union victory was not a foregone conclusion especially in the first two years of the War. A string of Confederate victories in 1862 had soured the northern population's opinion of the War. The Republicans had lost control of Congress in the mid-term elections, and the Democrats were agitating to end the War with a peace treaty and bring the boys home and stop the carnage. But in the summer of 1863, a significant Union victory turned the tides of war and public opinion. What was that victory GETTYSBURG you shout! Not so fast I answer… let's consider the facts.
Gettysburg is without a doubt a great battle, the nearly mythical invincibility of Lee lain open to the light of day, he was indeed just a man after all. The incredible losses of the day were unequaled in Western Hemispheric History to this day. But What if Lee had won? Lee would have still had to withdraw and head south again, sooner or later.
No, I would have to argue that the most important Union victory in the bloody Year of 1863, was at THE OTHER BURG! Vicksburg! Union operations against Vicksburg had been in progress since shortly after the fall of New Orleans. U.S. Grant’s operations to capture Vicksburg had been in progress since the winter of 1862. Grant was a stubborn as a mule and tenacious as a bulldog. Handed defeat after defeat by Confederate forces and mother nature. He conducts a series of operations so audacious that even his best friend William T. Sherman is flabbergasted by them! A nighttime run by the U.S. Navy (Grant's idea) past the formidable guns of Vicksburg. An amphibious landing unequaled until D-Day. A 19th-century Blitzkrieg across central Mississippi without a substantial supply line. Two nearly bold if unsuccessful assaults across impossible terrain and a 47-day siege in the heat of a Mississippi summer. This is the turning point Victory of the summer of 1863.
Had Vicksburg held and Lee lost, I think we would be living in a very different world today. Had Vicksburg fallen and Lee won, I doubt if the South could have still won. For the loss of Vicksburg was not just a loss of one town, it was the loss of the Mississippi River, and with it the Trans-Mississippi! So the next time you hear someone tell you that Gettysburg was the turning point of the War, just smile and politely nod your head for you know the truth. It was not Gettysburg but that other burg, VICKSBURG!
Want to learn more about Vicksburg and the War? Make plans now to attend the first annual Vicksburg Civil War Symposium July 3-4.