Ulysses S Grant A Man Of Brilliance — страница 2

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Mississippi River from Cairo to below Memphis. Grant took forts Henery, Donelson, Buell, captured Nashville, and Shiloh. Once Grant reached Vicksburg his plan was to take Vicksburg by storm where he could win a short decisive victory. Grant surrounded the city of Vicksburg and opened up a series of artillery bombardment. This came from siege artillery and Admiral David D Porter’s Gunboats. After this series of bombardment Grant assembled at 10:00 am on May 22, 1863 Grants troops attacked the city of Vicksburg. The attack was a long and bitter on costing the Union 3,199 casualties. The attack showed some signs of success in the beginning but Grant realized that he would not be able to take Vicksburg in this assault type fashion. Grant, after failing in the attack of Vicksburg,

with his brilliant military stratagem decided to prepare a siege on Vicksburg. Grant describes the battle in this letter, “Vicksburg is now completely invested. I have possession of Haynes’ Bluff and the Yazoo; consequently have supplies. Today an attempt was made to carry the city by assault, but was not entirely successful. We hold possession, however, of two of the enemy’s forts and have skirmishers close under all of them. The nature of the ground of Vicksburg is such that it can only be taken by a siege. It is entirely safe to us in time, I would say one week if the enemy do not send a large army upon my rear.” The initial preparation for the siege was “to secure a footing on dry ground on the east side of the river from which the troops could operate against

Vicksburg.” Grant’s siege would enable him to make the Confederates surrender with out having a major battle, thus conserving human lives. Grant surrounded the city and began building a series of trenches and barricades. The city was cut off of all supplies; then it was just a matter of time before they would surrender. As the days went on Grant’s guard of the city became nearly impenetrable, “When the real investment began a cat could not have crept out of Vicksburg without being discovered.” The Confederates began withdrawing as Union trenched were moved closer and closer towards Vicksburg. There was constant Union bombardment from their cannons to further disrupt the sick and starving Confederates inside of Vicksburg. The Confederates, knowing how important Vicksburg

was, were reluctant to surrender. General Pemberton stubbornly stated that the, “Cost at which I will sell Vicksburg. When the last pound of beef, bacon, and flour, the last grain of corn, the last cow and hog and horse and dog shall of been consumed, and the last man shall have perished in the trenches, then, and only then will I sell Vicksburg.” This statement, although a little extreme, was exactly what Grant had strategically planned. He planned to starve the Confederates into surrendering. After about Forty-eight days Grants siege had proved successful. Grant had assumed it would have only taken a week but his penetrating idea had proved successful. On the morning of July 3 the Confederates were waving white flags and the shooting was ceased. After a day of negotiations

Grant allowed the Confederate soldiers to be paroled and sent back to their homes. Grant decided to parole the soldiers because, “Paroled soldiers were an immense problem to their own authorities… Paroled men were very hard to handle, because the soldiers assumed that when they had been captured and paroled they were out of the war.” This was another resourceful idea that put the Union one step above the Confederates in leadership, especially Grants. Paroling the soldiers made it much easier on the Union because they would not have to waste their time trying to move the 30,000 soldiers at Vicksburg into Ohio. Instead they would turn them back to the Confederacy with destroyed morals and no will to fight. Ulysses S Grant’s leadership in the Vicksburg campaign was one of

superior skill, stubbornness, and courage. Grant decided what he thought would work and stuck with it, his decisions were correct and and he led an extremely honorable and intelligent campaign at Vicksburg and through out the war. The capture of Pemberton’s army and the loss of the strategic city of Vicksburg split the Confederacy. This victory at Vicksburg sparked a fear in Confederacy, that they could not stop Grants army and that they were essentially doomed in this war. After Vicksburg, Grant gained more popularity and this was the chief cause for his election as General-in-Chief. Once Grant took control of the entire Union army, with his skills, he easily conquered the rest of the Confederacy and single handedly was the most important military general in the Unions victory