Description
Book SynopsisOffers a detailed analysis of the end of the Vicksburg Campaign and the forty-day siege. Ranging in scope from military to social history, contributors examine the role of Grant's staff, contributions of African American troops to the Union Army of the Tennessee, both sides' use of sharpshooters, the use of West Point siege theory, and more.
Trade ReviewAn impressively informative body of original Civil War scholarship."—James A. Cox
Midwest Book Review"Topically diverse in addressing matters on and off the battlefield (mostly the former),
Vicksburg Besieged is another solid entry in the ongoing Civil War Campaigns in the West series and a notable contribution to our understanding of the still relatively understudied siege phase of the Vicksburg Campaign."—Andrew Wagenhoffer
Civil War Books and Authors"Drawing on many decades of study, the contributors to
Vicksburg Besiegedsupply welcome new perspectives on a pivotal moment in Civil War history. While these well-written essays will appeal chiefly to students of the war’s military history, historians of the environment, health, food, and the senses will discover much fodder for their future work."—Brian Matthew Jordan
Civil War Monitor"Despite the battlefield being preserved in the Vicksburg National Military Park, the Siege of Vicksburg garners much less attention than other phases of the campaign. Yet its importance as the capstone of the campaign, where victory and defeat finally came, cannot be diminished. Scholars are slowly beginning to turn more attention to these events, and this collection of topical essays provides a wonderful introduction to several areas of importance in the siege."—Timothy B. Smith, author of
The Decision Was Always My Own: Ulysses S. Grant and the Vicksburg Campaign"This collection of essays includes some of the best recent history written about the events during the siege of Vicksburg. It illuminates the importance of Vicksburg and how its surrender was a blow from which the Confederacy could not recover. The loss of Vicksburg was a turning point in the Civil War, because it effectively isolated the Trans-Mississippi from the rest of the Confederate states, and this excellent book provides a new look at various activities during the siege."—Anne J. Bailey, author of
The Chessboard of War: Sherman and Hood in the Autumn Campaigns of 1864Table of Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Charles D. Grear
- 1. “By Hazard and by Spasms”: Grant and HisStaff at the Siege of Vicksburg
- Andrew S. Bledsoe
- 2. “Standing on the Banks”: African American Troops in the Vicksburg Campaign
- Scott L. Stabler and Martin J. Hershock
- 3. Plying the Deadly Trade: The Sharpshooters’ War at the Siege of Vicksburg
- Jonathan M. Steplyk
- 4. Nights at Vicksbur
- Steven E. Woodworth
- 5. Andrew Hickenlooper and the Vicksburg Mines
- Justin S. Solonick
- 6. A Community Besieged: Civilians of the Vicksburg Campaign
- John J. Gaines
- 7. Mournful Melodies: LouisianansPlayed the Swan Song of the Army of Relief
- Richard H. Holloway
- 8. “West of the Mississippi to UsIsNearly a Sealed Book”: Trans-Mississippians and the Fall of Vicksburg
- Charles D. Grear
- Contributors
- Index
