The struggle for control of the Mississippi River was the longest and most complex campaign of the Civil War. It was marked by an extraordinary diversity of military and naval operations, including fleet engagements, cavalry raids, amphibious landings, pitched battles, and the two longest sieges in American history. Every existing type of naval vessel, from sailing ship to armored ram, played a role, and military engineers practiced their art on a scale never before witnessed in modern warfare. Union commanders such as Grant, Sherman, Farragut, and Porter demonstrated the skills that would...

"The Defense of Vicksburg: ""A"" Louisiana Chronicle" is the story of the Louisiana soldiers who fought at Vicksburg, as told through their letters, diaries, and remembrances. Most histories of this famous Civil War siege have been written by the victors; this one presents a day-by-day account from the Confederate vantage point. Indeed, these long-dead men come to life as we read their experiences and perceptions told in their own voices, which ring clear and without apology.
In 1862 the Dixie Rebels of DeSoto Parish left for New Orleans. They and other Louisianians were formed into...

From the beginning of the Civil War the Confederate bastion at Vicksburg thwarted Federal hopes for gaining control of the all-important Mississippi River and cutting the far-flung Confederacy in half. By 1863, despite Federal successes at New Orleans and Memphis, Vicksburg stood defiant, keeping open the flow of badly needed supplies from the Trans-Mississippi West to the major Confederate armies in the East. But that year, an unlikely new Federal hero--scruffy, cigar-smoking Ulyssess S. Grant--prepared to launch an all out and highly risky campaign to topple the "Confederate Gibraltar."...