trapped within Vicksburg’s defensive
works, the constant artillery barrage
strained their nerves, and the scarcity
of food tested their physical stamina.
Pemberton’s soldiers went on half
and then quarter-rations as the balmy
weeks of June progressed. Skinned
rats and mulemeat became food.
Civilians abandoned their homes and
sought safety in dugouts excavated
from the hillsides.
Despite these harsh conditions,
Vicksburg’s denizens remained defiant,
confident that Joseph E. Johnston’s
relief army would soon lift the siege
and attack Grant from the rear. “We
may look at any hour for his approach,”
wrote the editor of the Vicksburg
newspaper, now printed on the back
of old wallpaper. “Hold out a few days
longer, and our lines will be opened,
the enemy driven away, the siege
raised.” Johnston’s army, hovering toappalled at the condition of Pemberton’s
men as they dejectedly filed into their
positions. One eyewitness summed up
their condition as “humanity in the last
throes of existence.”The start of the siege
Believing correctly that his enemy
was demoralized, Grant immediately
ordered an attack in force on May 19.
Union soldiers confidently charged
forward but were greeted with walls of
musketry fire from the well-protected
Rebels. Nonplussed, Grant tried again on
May 22, preceding the infantry assault
with a massive artillery
bombardment.The Big Black River was the last
natural barrier before the eastern
approaches to Vicksburg. If Grant’s
army could breach this obstacle,
only the formidable Confederate
entrenchments around the city would
stand between Grant and victory.
On May 17, troops of John A.
McClernand’s corps, eager to prove
their mettle, attacked a strong
Confederate position along this last
line of defense before the Vicksburg
entrenchments. The assault might have
failed, but John C. Pemberton left a
bridge standing that should have been
burned. The Confederates were routed,
losing another 1,750 men. In the
aftermath of the Battle of Big Black
River, the Confederate army
could only withdraw to
Vicksburg. Civilians in the
Southern stronghold were
The result: far worse Union casualties
when lodgments initially secured by
McClernand’s corps went unexploited.
Morale in Pemberton’s army soared,
but he failed to take the opportunity to
evacuate the city before the Union
encirclement was complete.
Although these failures were
disheartening, Grant realized that if
he had not allowed his men to try
a direct assault against Vicksburg,
they might not have accepted the
drudgery of the ensuing siege. He
and his bluecoats, now reinforced to
70,000 strong, settled into
a five-week siege. For
their adversaries,“Whistling Dick”
This 18-pounder (8kg) gun in the Vicksburg defenses
gained its nickname from the unusual noise its shells
made. The barrel could be aimed to fire downward at
targets on the river from its position
on the Vicksburg bluffs.
The siege of Vicksburg
Union troops man their siege lines around impregnable
Vicksburg. More than 200 Union guns pounded the city
every day, while Porter’s gunboats kept up a barrage
from the river, until the inhabitants could take no more.