Surviving Vicksburg (Article 95)
From March until May 1863, Union General Ulysses S. Grant had tried numerous tactics to dislodge the over 30,000 Confederate forces from the area around Vicksburg, Mississippi. The town above the strategic port on the Mississippi River was built high on a bluff and commanded a long view of the great river. From that vantage point, Confederate gunners determined which ships passed safely and which would come under intense fire. Since the river meandered in that area, and did not just run in a straight North-South line past Vicksburg, any vessel had to slowly navigate the bends which made the Confederate gunners very effective. If the Union could take Vicksburg, the flow of supplies to Confederate armies would be hampered and the entire Mississippi River from New Orleans to Illinois would be under Northern control. Despite General Grant’s attacks from different angles, often coordinated with fire from Union Navy vessels on the Mississippi, nothing seemed to work! Every land assault had failed, and too many Union soldiers were wounded and dead, without any significant advantage gained. Although the Union forces had gradually compressed the Confederate lines inward to the city, there was no breakthrough. Over time, the Confederate soldiers consolidated into the small town itself and in defensive positions in the hilly terrain nearby. Grant knew there were at least 5,000 civilians in Vicksburg and gave an official warning that the town itself was now considered a target.
Dora Miller, a northerner by birth and a Union supporter, was married to a Southern lawyer and lived in Vicksburg. She kept a diary throughout the campaign and on March 20, 1863, wrote, “In view of expected military operations against the city, non-combatants were being ordered by authorities to leave or prepare accordingly.” Only a few chose to leave at that time, but many must have questioned their decision as the months wore on.
Emma Balfour, a Southern woman, married to a local physician, wrote, “What is to become of all the living things in this place when the boats commence shelling--God only knows--shut up as in a trap--no ingress or egress--and thousands of women and children.”
From May 18-23, General Grant ordered another series of attacks but all failed to reach the outskirts of the city, and the Union casualties were heavy. Many of those dead and wounded were still lying where they fell. It was unmercifully hot and both Union and Confederate soldiers were now affected by the stench of dead soldiers and horses and the screams of those wounded. On the afternoon of May 24, 1863, the Confederate commander offered a truce so that the Union could safely retrieve bodies and care for their wounded. At first, General Grant refused, perhaps thinking it might be perceived as weakness; but by evening he accepted the respite. On the 25th, both Union and Confederate soldiers emerged from their positions and gathered in the battle area. Despite the grim task at hand, some of the men carried on a light hearted banter and others traded personal goods such as paper and buttons. One contemporary wrote that, “The air was filled with Yankee twang and Southern drawl.” But after the field was clear, Grant decided that there would be no more direct assaults.
Historian Shelby Foote wrote that Grant "did not regret having made the assaults; he only regretted that they had failed." Grant reluctantly settled into a siege and later wrote, “I now determined upon a regular siege—to 'out-camp the enemy,' as it were, and to incur no more losses."
But the White civilians, and the Black slaves who had no say in the matter, were now trapped in Vicksburg and would get no reprieve; and the shelling continued. With no new supplies permitted into the town, food, water, and medicine were rationed for the 30,000 Confederate troops and the 5,000 civilians. While the townspeople probably had enough supplies to last for months, if the only demand came from the civilians; the Confederate Army was never very well supplied and those soldiers now in Vicksburg became a further drain on the stored resources.
The residents and soldiers steadily went through the chickens and the few pigs and cows that were kept in the city; and then turned to other sources of meat. Dora Miller wrote, “I think all the dogs and cats must be killed, or starved, we don’t see any more pitiful animals prowling around.” The reality of the situation was even worse than she wrote, as most of those household pets did not starve or run off, they were consumed by their owners out of desperation. After some time, the Confederate Army also permitted the slaughter of a few mules which they no longer needed to pull supply wagons; but even that supply quickly dwindled. Mrs. Miller added later, “I send five dollars to market each morning, and it buys a small piece of mule-meat. Rice and milk is my main food; I can’t eat the mule-meat. We boil the rice and eat it cold with milk for supper."
In his book, The Siege of Vicksburg, Richard Wheeler wrote about a sick little girl who was given a Blue Jay to care for by a Confederate soldier; but the girl was too sick to pay attention to the little bird. Later, the mother related that, without telling her child, the bird was used for soup.
Dora Miller wrote about the Southern soldiers, “They are like hungry animals seeking something to devour. Poor fellows! My heart bleeds for them. They have nothing but spoiled, greasy bacon, and bread made of musty pea-flour, and but little of that.”
There was a looming fear of starvation!
But there was another eminent danger to the civilian and military occupants of Vicksburg. Union shells constantly rained down on the city. Dora Miller wrote, “We are utterly cut off from the world, surrounded by a circle of fire. The fiery shower of shells goes on day and night. People do nothing but eat what they can get, sleep when they can and dodge the shells.”
Emma Balfour wrote later as the shelling reached the town, “I was up in my room sewing and praying in my heart . . . and we went …rushing into caves…Just as we got in, several (shells) exploded just over our heads. As all this rushed over me and the sense of suffocation from being underground, the certainty that there was no way of escape, that we were hemmed in, caged:--for one moment my heart seemed to stand still. Nearly all the families in town spent the night in their caves.”
Yes, she was writing about being in caves; not natural caves, but holes in the ground, recently dug out to provide some protection from the shelling.
Lida Lord described the futility of staying in a house. “Before sunset a bombshell burst into the very center of the dining room ... crushing the well-spread table like an eggshell, and making a great yawning hole in the floor, into which disappeared supper, china, furniture... and our stock of butter and eggs."
Since their homes provided no safety from the shells, the residents began to build caves into the hills; hoping that they would be at least resistant to the bombs. And, in many cases, they proved to be!
Most caves were dug by slaves or hired workers. While some caves were paid for and built for a specific family, it was more common for several families to agree to share the new space, with the inherent loss of privacy that had to be expected. However, there were also caves built by speculators who would sell them, but more often they would rent space in a cave and those conditions could be more crowded. Most had some furniture, and the more elegant caves had carpet. Lida Lord wrote of one of the more extravagant caves her family shared with several others. “The cave ran about twenty feet underground and communicated at right angles with a wing which opened on the front of the hill, giving us a free circulation of air. At the door was an arbor of branches, in which, on a pine table, we dined when shelling permitted. Near it were a dug-out fireplace and an open-air kitchen, with table, pans, …" She described one night when 65 people crowded in, including several slaves and other servants, as being, “Packed in, black and white, like sardines in a box.”
But even the best caves could not withstand a direct hit. When one shell hit, Lida described the scene, “…a landslide buried little Lucy McRae alive. Even as Dr. Lord, himself injured, was successfully digging the ….child out of the dirt, a baby boy was being born in another part of the cave.”
While the residents withstood the constant shelling, eventually, the eminent starvation of civilians and troops led the Confederate commander request surrender terms from General Grant on July 3rd. On that same day, Dora Miller wrote that, “..rats are hanging dressed in the market for sale with mule meat - there is nothing else.”
General Grant and General Pemberton, the Confederate commander, knew each other and their exchanges were cordial. Pemberton’s superiors in Richmond wanted him to hold out longer, but with starvation becoming a reality, surrender of the troops and the town was necessary. Grant offered generous surrender terms and, on July 4th, Pemberton agreed. Over 30,000 Southern soldiers received paroles, conditioned on an agreement to not engage Union forces; and they marched out of Vicksburg. Grant’s gesture was not just humanitarian; he knew he could not care for nor transport that many prisoners. Grant, in his memoirs, wrote that he hoped most would simply go back to their homes; however, to his disappointment, many rejoined other Confederate units and fought again.
The incessant bombing did cause civilian casualties in Vicksburg; but not as many as might have been expected from the thousands of shells of various types which were lobbed into the city. Twelve civilians were killed, including several children, and about 50 wounded badly enough to require care. It was, nonetheless, still a tragedy for the small town and its families.
But the fall of Vicksburg was a significant victory for the Union cause, and, personally, for General Grant. The Union, not the Southern forces, now controlled travel on the Mississippi River from New Orleans north into Northern states. However, it was a devastating loss for the Confederacy. A key lifeline for the South was lost and, in effect, the new nation was divided into states east or west of the River. Although the Civil War would continue for nearly two years, and many more Southern cities would be ravaged by Union forces; the take-over of Vicksburg was like a stake in the heart for the secessionist cause.
But the people of Vicksburg had endured. They had dug over 500 caves, subsisted on rations no person expects to have to eat, and withstood a horrific bombardment. The caves certainly helped preserve lives; but when the people emerged after the battles were over, their splendid Southern town was utterly destroyed. However, they would soon begin to rebuild Vicksburg; although now, of course, under the watchful eye of their new neighbors, the Yankees.
And the Southern citizens of Vicksburg would refuse to celebrate the 4th of July for another eighty years!