Grant Leads the Union
Battle of Vicksburg
Pgs. 173-174
A Boost for the Union
• A boost for the North
came when President
Lincoln finally found a
general as good as
Confederate general
Robert E. Lee.
• His name was
Ulysses S. Grant.
Uylsses S. Grant
• Like Lee, Grant had been educated at
West Point and had fought in the war with
Mexico.
• When the Civil War began, Grant offered
his services to the Union army.
• His quick decisions in battle led to Union
victories.
• Northerners liked to say that Grant’s
initials stood for Unconditional Surrender!
Battle of Vicksburg
• Vicksburg, Mississippi, was an important city for
the Confederate Army during the Civil War.
• On May 19, 1863, Ulysses S. Grant attacked
Vicksburg with the intent to take over the city.
• The Union navy had already prevented other
regiments from joining the Confederates at
Vicksburg, but the Southern city held strong.
Grant, however, did not stop there.
Battle of Vicksburg
• Grant settled down to a six-week siege, surrounding the
city, cutting off supply lines, firing upon Vicksburg
continually, and moving in so close that, at some points,
Union and Confederate soldiers held their lines within
shouting distance.
• By mid-June 1863, 80,000 Union troops camped on the
Mississippi River bluffs above the city.
• To escape, Vicksburg residents left their homes for
caves in the city's hills.
• The Union soldiers called this maze of dugouts "Prairie
Dog Village." The people of the village were starving and
tired but still held on to hope.
Surrender at Vicksburg
• By the forty-fourth day, with no supplies
coming into town, the editor of Vicksburg's
Daily Citizen was reduced to printing the
news on wallpaper.
• He wrote that Ulysses S. Grant wished to
celebrate the Fourth of July "dining in
Vicksburg." Little did the writer know that
on July 4, 1863, the Confederates would
surrender.
Battle of Vicksburg
• Vicksburg proved to be a key victory for
the North.
• It gave the Union control of the Mississippi
River which weakened the Confederacy by
cutting it into two parts.
• As a result of winning at Vicksburg,
President Lincoln gave Grant command of
all Union troops.