Vicksburg, Siege of
Vicksburg, Siege of (1862–63).During the Civil War, Vicksburg, a port city above the Mississippi River at the mouth of the Yazoo, was a key link between the eastern and the trans‐Mississippi areas of the Confederacy. In May 1862, 3,000 Confederate troops under Brig. Gen. Martin L. Smith occupied the town. Smith began fortifying the 200‐foot bluffs. With the siege of New Orleans and the fall of Memphis, Vicksburg quickly became the only bastion on the Mississippi blocking Union river traffic.
On 28 May 1862, the USS Oneida arrived and opened fire upon Vicksburg. Additional vessels under Flag Officer David Farragut joined the bombardment in the coming weeks, augmented by mortar schooners under Cmdr. David Dixon Porter. Lacking sufficient forces for a land assault, the Federals attempted to dig a canal across the peninsula opposite...
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