The American Civil War - This Mighty Scourge of War

The fighting 139

city, through which they could redirect the
river waters and float vessels south. Again,
the operation failed. Next, he ordered an
expedition to cut a waterway through Yazoo
Pass via a bayou. When that failed, Grant
put his men to work creating a waterway
that ran down from Yazoo Pass at the
northern end of the delta, but it was blocked
by the Confederates when they constructed
Port Pemberton in its path. After weeks of
monotonous laboring for nothing, one
soldier called this winter 'the Valley Forge of
the War.'

Although Grant's futile attempts to get at
the river fortress did little to satisfy an

anxious and demanding Northern public, by

mid-April the commander had settled on a

plan that would work. It would ultimately

prove so successful that it would immortalize

Grant as the great victor of Vicksburg. He

would move his troops below the city, head

to Jackson and cut the railroads, and then

move west toward Vicksburg and seize the

high ground in the rear of the city.

This picture of Benjamin H. Grierson and his men was

taken shortly after his famous raid. Sitting with chin in hand,

Gnerson boasted of the most significant Union cavalry raid

of the war in the west, luring John Pemberton's cavalry Into

futile pursuit. (Review of Reviews Company)