The Battle of Vicksburg: The Turning Point of the US Civil War

When people think of all the battles in the United States of America, the most famous is the Battle of Gettysburg. They would say that it is the most important part of the battle and the goal of the war, which, however, is not so. The turning point of the Civil War occurred in the spring of 1863 when the Battle of Vicksburg was fought. Vicksburg was the key to success for the side that claimed victory and did so with the Union, the war changed from that point forward it is.

When the Southerners seceded from the Union, they took their most useful natural resources with them, the Mississippi River. The Mississippi was as important to each region as to the other because it allowed various supplies and products to be traded around the nation and around the world and traveled from north to south. Whoever had possession of the river immediately had another advantage. President Abraham Lincoln recognized this and also spoke to the Union military leaders about it. Lincoln said, “…how much land these allies hold, the key of which is Vicksburg! The war can never be ended until that key is in our pocket. of the Confederacy, and they can drive us from Vicksburg.” Unless the Union army had been defeated in all other battles, which it would not have been, Vicksburg would be the key to victory.

Vicksburg, Mississippi is located directly in the center of the Confederacy. In addition to containing the largest river in the nation, it held an even greater strategic advantage, which could make the South a great deal. Historian Bruce Catton noted this moment, “Vicksburg broke the Confederacy into pieces … and finally inflicted a mortal wound. The Confederates … at Vicksburg lost something they could not afford.” With the Confederacy, now a properly divided nation, their forces are reduced to corners. It was not a Southern unit that even began to make a mistake around Vicksburg. Confederate leader Jefferson Davis criticized General Joe Johnston. When asked about criticizing Johnston, Davis was quoted as saying, “So from the grain business inside and outside that they didn’t want to fight.” Johnston was to stand Mississippi ordered the Union forces, but instead withdrew and allowed Union army commander Ulysses S. Make it easier than expected. This mistake shows how the mind of the South can be corrupted and allowed the North to take advantage of it. Morale went to a new low after the loss at Vicksburg, because the leading Confederate officials no longer thought they had a chance to defeat the North. In a diary entry Josias Gorgas, the leader of the Confederate artillery, wrote “.. The Confederacy is collapsing to its own destruction.”

The Union victory at Vicksburg not only brought the South home. Major loss had an effect on them internationally. If Great Britain had officially recognized the South as an independent country, the North would no doubt have lost its dependence on the resources of the South. If it were known, the South would withdraw the North with a fleet from Britain, and they would know it. The victory at Vicksburg boosted the South and potentially helped them in international diplomacy. And so when Vicksburg was conquered in the north, there was no chance that Europe would be physically involved. The failure of the South was supported by no support from Europe because they would not come to the aid of the dying cause, which the South clearly was.

North Vicksburg officially surrendered on July 4th, 1863. The Union Army was different. there is reason to celebrate the nation’s independence day as the future of the Confederacy looked grimmer every day. At the surrender of Vicksburg, the Confederacy surrendered nearly thirty thousand soldiers, and more than fifty arms with it. This meant that there were 30,000 fewer people for the Union directors to account for.

It was not of consequence that the South should recover from such a defeat. They lost their major natural trade and travel power on the Mississippi River. The Confederacy was split in half and allowed the Union to pick and choose where and how they wanted to fight. The South lost almost ten thousand people due to death and products such as guns and weapons, they could not afford a greater loss. life and wealth.

It was such a great victory that anyone who won Vicksburg would be superior to the rest of the Civil War. The Battle of Vicksburg proved to be the turning point of the US Civil War for the Union. A victory was won for the South, and if there was any chance of gaining it by war, it was to no one. The North’s support for this victory was at a new high and although the US Civil War lasted for another two years, the Confederacy was never the same again.