Vicksburg has long lived in the shadow of Gettysburg, three astoundingly bloody days that ended, narrowly, in the retreat of General Robert E. Lee’s army to Southern soil. But the surrender of Vicksburg—a key Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River—on July 4, 1863, spelled doom for the South, though the war would drag on for nearly two more years. To shed light on the fall of the fortress city and its place in the history of the Civil War, Parade spoke with Rick Martin, chief of operations at Vicksburg National Military Park, which will commemorate the surrender on the Fourth. The evening before, the park is hosting a Grand Illumination to honor the 20,000 casualties, Union and Confederate, of the brutal 18-month campaign.
Why was Vicksburg such an important victory for the Union?
You have to understand the significance of the Mississippi River and Vicksburg in regard to the war efforts. The leaders at the time understood the significance. Shortly after the Civil War started, President Abraham Lincoln gathered leaders and said, “See what a lot of land these fellows control, of which Vicksburg is the key. … The war can never be brought to a close until the key is in our pocket.” Confederate President Jefferson Davis wrote that Vicksburg was “the nailhead that held the South’s two halves together” in a letter to Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton, the man responsible for the defense of Vicksburg.
Was the surrender in fact a turning point in the war?
After Memphis and New Orleans fell in 1862, Vicksburg became the single most important objective—militarily, economically, and politically—to the leaders of the North and the South. There was an 18-month campaign involving over 200,000 soldiers and the inland water navies of the Union and the Confederacy. There were approximately 20,000 men killed, wounded, or missing in action during the campaign. Couple the Union victory at Vicksburg with the Union victory at Gettysburg and it is the turning point of the war. Colonel Josiah Gorgas, chief of the Confederate Ordnance Department, said of the two losses, “Yesterday we rode on the pinnacle of success—today absolute ruin seems to be our portion. The Confederacy totters to its destruction.”
Why does the Vicksburg campaign tend to be overshadowed by Gettysburg in the national imagination?
Although Vicksburg was the second largest city in Mississippi, it was far removed from the large population centers in the South and North. The war in the West did not attract the same attention as the war in the East. The centers of power were in Washington and Richmond. The surrender of Vicksburg was the culmination of the largest and most complex combined land and naval operation undertaken in American history up to that time. But the campaign was long. In the end it turns into a siege, which resulted in fewer casualties. Gettysburg in three days had 50,000 soldiers killed, wounded, or missing in battle.
Think of that impact that those casualties had on all of America. People are no different today when it comes to media. How much do you see or read about Afghanistan? We have about 60,000 military personnel over there, but the only time you hear anything is if a soldier or marine is killed. So Gettysburg grabs the attention of people right away. That was where the newspaper reporters and photographers were, so there are plenty of photographs and articles about Gettysburg—and almost none of Vicksburg.
A note on the photographs: Matthew Baum is an artist and educator based in Brooklyn, N.Y. Work from Matthew’s Civil War series is on view through Oct. 7 at CAM Raleigh, in Raleigh, N.C., as part of the group exhibition Currents. Charles Traub is the chairman of the School of Visual Arts’ Masters in Fine Arts Program in Photography, Video and Related Media. Images courtesy of the photographer and Gitterman Gallery, New York City.