SOLD General Ulysses S. Grant Struggles to Bypass Vicksburg and Avoid a Siege

By the spring of 1862, Union forces had seized Confederate forts on the northern portion of the Mississippi River and taken New Orleans on the southern end. If the U.S. could control the entire length of the Mississippi, the Confederacy would be split in two and its use of the river as an avenue of men and supplies would be ended. Union military personnel and supplies, and indeed all types of trade, could then flow freely from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico.

All of this would make a complete Confederate victory in the war almost impossible, so taking the entire Mississippi River became a top Union priority. The city of Vicksburg, strategically placed to make it hard to assault, was the last obstacle and so long as rebel guns there overlooked the river, the Union plan could not be realized. From May to July 1862, Union forces bombarded Vicksburg and also tried, without success, to bypass it by building a canal. Grant was given command in October and moved against the town in December. He was assisted by Adm. David D. Porter, in command of the Mississippi Squadron, who was responsible for the Mississippi River and its tributaries north of Vicksburg.

The Union strategy during the first months of 1863 continued to center on avoiding Vicksburg by digging a canal. It rained in January and the canal dug the previous year filled with water. On January 31, Grant telegraphed Washington that he was pushing everything to bypass Vicksburg and was reviving the digging there. However, he was not sure that the old canal was viable, so he also investigated other possible routes while continuing work on the old one. On February 2, work began on a northern bypass up near Yazoo Pass and Moon Lake. The following day mines were exploded, a levee began to take shape and water started pouring in. Grant then went in person to scout out a third location at Lake Providence just west of the Mississippi and work began there also. Over the next weeks some progress was made on the projects despite the fact that much of the time was spent keeping water out of the soldiers’ camps and pumping it out of the ditches they were digging.

Ulysses S. Grant Autograph Letter Signed, February 27, 1863, to Adm. Porter, concerning the infernal water which was delaying the work projects. “At the present stage of water the submarine pump cannot be used. Capt. Prime therefore has had it put aboard the Champion. Will you be kind enough to let us have the pump and steamer again when the water falls about ten inches from its present level?”

In the end the bypass operations all failed and Grant determined that he had no choice but to take Vicksburg. He attacked it with a frontal assault on May 22, but was thrown back with heavy loss. He then sent for reinforcements and mounted a successful siege. The surrender of Vicksburg took place on July 4, 1863, and was one of the most important events of the war. It also made the careers of Grant (who was brought east by Lincoln to take over the Army of the Potomac) and Porter (who was given responsibility for the whole Mississippi River system). According to Grant’s biographer Kenneth Williams, the days spent during the bypass attempts were crucial to the ultimate success of taking Vicksburg because Grant used the time to develop a rapport with his men, and revealed “a cool mind and a steady hand in control.” He also showed “he can inspire the army in blue.”

Letters of Grant from the Vicksburg campaign are quite uncommon, and this one is our first from Grant, the senior Union field commander in the western theater, to Porter, the senior Union naval commander. It shows the close cooperation between the Union Army and Navy that was necessary in the major operation of taking Vicksburg.