Vicksburg

1
Vicksburg

• Battle of Raymond

2
Grants Strategy
A Photographic Tour Of Civil War Vicksburg Like
a spirit land of Shadows They in silence on me
gaze And I feel my heart is beating With the
pulse of other days And I ask what great
magician Conjured forms like these afar? Echo
answers, tis the sunshine, By its alchymist
Daguerre.
Caleb Lyon,
Photographic Art Journal, 1851 Jefferson Davis
remarked after the fall of Vicksburg The clouds
are truly dark over us, and I believe this is a
most apt description of the impact the fall of
Vicksburg had on the war. Through the
photographs that follow I will try to transport
the viewer to that Spirit land of Shadows and
walk the streets of wartime Vicksburg. All of
the photographs in this tour are from the
collections of the Old Court House Museum.
Vicksburg Circa 1860 This photograph is one of
the earliest known views of the Hill City.
Founded by the Reverend Newit Vick in 1819 and
incorporated in 1825, by 1860 Vicksburg was a
major transportation hub that catered to
steamboats and the railroad. Boats left daily
providing connections to the major towns in the
Mississippi River Valley, and rail service linked
the city with Monroe, Louisiana to the west and
Jackson, Mississippi to the east. In 1860
Vicksburg had a population of 4600 and was the
second largest city in the state after Natchez.
The rugged hills of Vicksburg made the city a
natural defensive point on the Mississippi River.
One Union soldier on seeing the terrain for the
first time wrote his sister, Tis the opinion of
all that Vicksburg is the strongest fortified
place in the Confederacy.
Corner of Washington Clay Streets, Circa
1864 Note the Washington Gallery Banner upstairs
over William Tillmans Saddle Shop it was one
of many photographic establishments operating in
Vicksburg during the Union occupation of the
city. Photography was invented by Frenchman Louis
Daguerre in 1839, and his invention spread very
quickly to America. The earliest documented
photographer in Vicksburg was a Mr. Gibbs who
owned Gibbs Sky-Light Gallery on Washington
Street in 1849.
Trick Image by Vicksburg Photographer Henry J.
Herrick, Circa 1860. Among the photographers who
came to Vicksburg was Canadian Henry J. Herrick
in 1854. When the war started Herrick closed his
shop and joined a local unit, the Warren
Dragoons, as a First Lieutenant. Most of the
local photographers in Vicksburg joined the army
like Herrick, or were forced to close because of
the scarcity of supplies thus photographs of the
city during the time it was held by the
Confederacy are almost non-existent. But with
the surrender of the city on July 4, 1863, a
number of photographers entered the city with the
victorious Union army. These men made their
living by providing their art to both soldiers
and civilians alike, and they contributed to a
rich visual legacy of life in Vicksburg during
the occupation.
View of Vicksburg taken from the top of the Court
House looking to the southwest. In the distance
with the tall spire is St. Pauls Catholic
Church, and just opposite on the lofty
prominence was the home Sky Parlor Hill, known
for its wonderful view. During the siege
citizens went there at night to watch the Union
shells in flight over the city. Watching the
action from Sky Parlor Hill was exciting, but it
could also be dangerous The other day while
standing on Sky Parlor Hill a shell exploded and
pieces struck in the flagstone near the steps.
This was from a machine. Then a parrot shell
from the eastern side passed over us and into
Washington Street between them a shot from a
gunboat missed the batteries and struck the hill
just below where we were standing at the moment
there was firing all around us a complete
circle from the fortifications above all around
to those below and from the river. Mrs. Emma
Balfour Vicksburg A City Under Siege
Four Mile Bridge on the Southern Railroad, four
miles east of Vicksburg, circa 1864. Note the
Union soldiers camped on the far side of the
bridge. West of Vicksburg a small railroad line
began at Monroe, Louisiana and terminated on the
banks of the Mississippi River. From there
passengers and freight were brought into the city
on ferries, transferred to railroad cars and sent
to points east. Vicksburg was the funnel through
which men and supplies flowed from the
Trans-Mississippi into the eastern Confederacy.
The Marine Hospital Battery at Vicksburg, taken
after the siege. Located in the southern part of
the city, this battery was one of the
most powerful in the river defenses, mounting
three 42-pounder smoothbores, two 32-pounder
smoothbores, and two 32-pounder rifles. To
maintain control of the Mississippi River in
front of Vicksburg, the Confederates built a
series of artillery positions along the Vicksburg
waterfront. Mounting 37 heavy guns and
stretching for over three miles in length, the
Confederate River Batteries made certain that any
Union vessel attempting to pass Vicksburg would
have to run through a gauntlet of fire.
Steamboats docked at Vicksburg, circa 1866. As
long as the Confederacy controlled Vicksburg,
they could deny use of the Mississippi River to
Northern shipping. Steamboatmen who follow a
legitimate business, and who have manhood enough
to attend to their own business, without carrying
into our midst the weapons of destruction,
wherewith to murder our citizens and destroy our
young Confederacy, will ever be allowed, without
let or hindrance, to navigate the free waters of
the Mississippi... Vicksburg Evening Citizen,
January 31, 1861
Mr. Tom Lewis standing in front of a cave on
Grove Street, Circa 1890s. To escape the hail of
iron being thrown into the city during the siege,
citizens dug caves into the sides of the hills
for shelter. The caves did their job very well
during the siege less than 20 civilians were
killed by the bombardment. The cave was an
excavation in the earth the size of a large room,
high enough for the tallest person to stand
perfectly erect, provided with comfortable seats,
and altogether quite a large and habitable abode
(compared with some of the caves in the city)
were it not for the dampness and the constant
contact with the soft earthy walls. Mary
Webster Loughborough My Cave Life in
Vicksburg
One of the most unique homes in Vicksburg The
Castle, circa 1863. Note the Union soldiers
camped on the lawn. Constructed in the early
1850s by Thomas Robbins, the Castle was one of
the most interesting homes in Vicksburg. Built
like a real castle, the home boasted a moat and
was surrounded by an Osage Orange Hedge. In 1859
the home was sold to Armistead Burwell, an
outspoken Unionist. Burwell was an outcast in
Vicksburg because of his views and once wrote a
friend, I dare not go any place in the interior
(would be hung or imprisoned if I did). Despite
his allegiance to the United States, after the
siege the Federals destroyed Burwells home and
built an artillery battery on the site, known
appropriately enough as the Castle Battery.
The Castle Battery was part of the Union defenses
of Vicksburg built after the siege to protect the
garrison from Rebel attack. Note the pile of
artillery carriages in the foreground.

• After Grants victory at Port Gibson, Pemberton
  expects him to head directly north to Vicksburg
• Instead, Grant decides to move northeastward
• By cutting loose from his own communications,
  Grant can focus on Pembertons by attacking the
  railroads

A Double-Banded Brooke Rifle in the Vicksburg
river defenses, taken after the siege. There were
two Brooke Rifles in the river batteries, a 6.4
inch gun in the appropriately named Brooke
Battery, located in the southern part of the
city, and a 7 inch gun in Battery Five in the
northern part of town. The Brooke Rifle was
invented by Confederate naval officer John M.
Brooke, and were produced in two locations
Tredegar Foundry in Richmond, Virginia, and the
Confederate Naval Ordnance Works in Selma,
Alabama. The fire from the 7-inch Brooke, manned
by cannoneers of the 1st Tennessee Heavy
Artillery, played an important role in helping to
sink the U.S.S. Cincinnati.
The U.S.S. Cincinnati, sunk at Vicksburg on May
27, 1863. After the siege the Federals raised the
ship and put it back into service. The U.S.S.
Cincinnati was ordered on May 27, 1863, to try
and neutralize the Wymans Hill and Water
Batteries in the northern part of the Confederate
river defenses. Soon after coming in range of
the Rebel artillery the ship was struck below the
waterline by a 128-pound bolt fired from a 7-inch
Brooke Rifle. The ship tried to withdraw upriver
to safety, but was struck repeatedly by the
Confederate guns and sank, with a loss of five
killed, fourteen wounded, and fifteen missing.
The Willis-Cowan Home, circa 1850s. This house
was John C. Pembertons Headquarters during the
siege. There are no known wartime photographs of
the structure. During a heavy shelling on May 30,
1863, Pembertons Headquarters was struck several
times by Federal shells. Mrs. Emma Balfour, who
lived next door, noted in her diary I never saw
anything like it. People were running in every
direction to find a place of safety. The shells
fell literally like hail. Mrs. Willis House was
struck twice and two horses in front of her door
were killed. General Pemberton and his staff had
to quit it. It was in this house that General
Pemberton met with his generals on the evening of
July 3, 1863, and made the decision to surrender
Vicksburg the next day.
The Warren County Jail on the corner of Grove and
Cherry Streets in Vicksburg, Circa 1864. Captured
Union soldiers were confined in the courtyard of
the jail during the siege. During the
occupation period, the Federals kept Confederate
soldiers and civilians in the jail. Horace
Fulkerson, a Confederate Cotton Agent, was
captured in October 1864 and sent to the
Vicksburg Jail. He recorded his description of
the inmates in his memoirs The prisoners
numbered some three hundred, representing Federal
and Confederate soldiers and civilians, common
thieves, highway robbers, murderers, blockade
runners in fact every class of criminals known
to the calendar of crime. There were in the
crowd young men and old men, boys, a few white
women, and a number of negroes. It was indeed a
grand medley of humanity with dark secrets locked
up in many a breast.
Battery Sherman, one of the Union Fortifications
defending Vicksburg after the siege, circa 1864.
After Vicksburg surrendered, General
Grant ordered that all of the ditches and
approaches used by the Union Army during the
siege be filled in so that they could not be used
by an attacker against the city. In the winter
of 1863-1864, a new defensive line was dug, much
shorter than the first, only five miles in length
that could be held by a small garrison. Battery
Sherman was one of the artillery emplacements
along this new line, located on the Jackson Road
entrance to the city.
Captured Confederate Artillery at Vicksburg,
Circa 1864. When Vicksburg fell, the
Federals took possession of a huge amount of
Confederate Artillery, consisting of 50
smoothbore field guns, 31 rifled field guns, 22
howitzers, 46 smoothbore siege guns, 21 rifled
siege guns, 1 siege howitzer, and a 10-inch
mortar for a grand total of 172 artillery pieces
of all types.
Captured Confederate Ordnance at Vicksburg, Circa
1864. Along with the artillery, the
Federals captured 38,000 artillery projectiles,
58,000 pounds of powder, and 4,800 artillery
cartridges. In 1864 a reporter from the
Vicksburg Daily Herald toured the Federal
Ordnance Department and wrote, We then visited
the yard in which are piled over one hundred
thousand cannon balls, shot and shell, of
different kinds.
Union Soldiers on the lawn of the Warren County
Courthouse after the siege. Note the cupola
support column on top of the clock tower with a
large chunk removed by a shell fragment.
On July 4, 1863, the victorious Union Army
marched into Vicksburg, and the United States
flag was raised over the courthouse. Having to
surrender was bad enough, but doing it on
Independence Day made things worse for the
citizens, and they didnt forget the pain of
surrender. The city did not celebrate the
holiday again for 82 years July 4, 1945, at the
end of World War II was the next official
celebration in Vicksburg. We suppose it is well
enough to remind the absent-minded reader the
Fourth of July puts in an appearance this
morning, the day on which the Continental
Congress at Philadelphia adopted the Declaration
of Independence...In old times it was customary
to celebrate the day with considerable pomp and
spread-eagle vaporing but now, in this
unfortunate section where the great natural
rights of safety, life, liberty, and property
have been almost swept away by our bayonet
rulers, but few are found to do the occasion
reverence. Vicksburg
Herald, July 4, 1872
Unidentified gathering on the courthouse lawn,
circa 1865. On seeing the United
States flag flying over the courthouse, Unionist
Dora Miller wrote, Now I feel once more at home
in mine own country. More typical was
the reaction of Alice Shannon, who wrote to her
sister that she could see that hateful flag
flying from the Court House Hill.
Anne Shannon
Union Soldiers at Brierfield, Jefferson Davis
home south of Vicksburg, Circa 1864. Note the
sign the soldiers erected over the front door,
The House Jeff Built. According to a newspaper
account, there was another sign over the back
door saying, Exit Traitor. The Jeff Place is
also a very fine plantation. The residence has
not been injured, except the door locks and one
or two marble mantels broken up, apparently for
trophies. The Jeff furniture has been removed,
but the rooms are still furnished with furniture
brought here. Vicksburg Daily Herald, 6 July
1864
3
Grants Strategy
A Photographic Tour Of Civil War Vicksburg Like
a spirit land of Shadows They in silence on me
gaze And I feel my heart is beating With the
pulse of other days And I ask what great
magician Conjured forms like these afar? Echo
answers, tis the sunshine, By its alchymist
Daguerre.
Caleb Lyon,
Photographic Art Journal, 1851 Jefferson Davis
remarked after the fall of Vicksburg The clouds
are truly dark over us, and I believe this is a
most apt description of the impact the fall of
Vicksburg had on the war. Through the
photographs that follow I will try to transport
the viewer to that Spirit land of Shadows and
walk the streets of wartime Vicksburg. All of
the photographs in this tour are from the
collections of the Old Court House Museum.
Vicksburg Circa 1860 This photograph is one of
the earliest known views of the Hill City.
Founded by the Reverend Newit Vick in 1819 and
incorporated in 1825, by 1860 Vicksburg was a
major transportation hub that catered to
steamboats and the railroad. Boats left daily
providing connections to the major towns in the
Mississippi River Valley, and rail service linked
the city with Monroe, Louisiana to the west and
Jackson, Mississippi to the east. In 1860
Vicksburg had a population of 4600 and was the
second largest city in the state after Natchez.
The rugged hills of Vicksburg made the city a
natural defensive point on the Mississippi River.
One Union soldier on seeing the terrain for the
first time wrote his sister, Tis the opinion of
all that Vicksburg is the strongest fortified
place in the Confederacy.
Corner of Washington Clay Streets, Circa
1864 Note the Washington Gallery Banner upstairs
over William Tillmans Saddle Shop it was one
of many photographic establishments operating in
Vicksburg during the Union occupation of the
city. Photography was invented by Frenchman Louis
Daguerre in 1839, and his invention spread very
quickly to America. The earliest documented
photographer in Vicksburg was a Mr. Gibbs who
owned Gibbs Sky-Light Gallery on Washington
Street in 1849.
Trick Image by Vicksburg Photographer Henry J.
Herrick, Circa 1860. Among the photographers who
came to Vicksburg was Canadian Henry J. Herrick
in 1854. When the war started Herrick closed his
shop and joined a local unit, the Warren
Dragoons, as a First Lieutenant. Most of the
local photographers in Vicksburg joined the army
like Herrick, or were forced to close because of
the scarcity of supplies thus photographs of the
city during the time it was held by the
Confederacy are almost non-existent. But with
the surrender of the city on July 4, 1863, a
number of photographers entered the city with the
victorious Union army. These men made their
living by providing their art to both soldiers
and civilians alike, and they contributed to a
rich visual legacy of life in Vicksburg during
the occupation.
View of Vicksburg taken from the top of the Court
House looking to the southwest. In the distance
with the tall spire is St. Pauls Catholic
Church, and just opposite on the lofty
prominence was the home Sky Parlor Hill, known
for its wonderful view. During the siege
citizens went there at night to watch the Union
shells in flight over the city. Watching the
action from Sky Parlor Hill was exciting, but it
could also be dangerous The other day while
standing on Sky Parlor Hill a shell exploded and
pieces struck in the flagstone near the steps.
This was from a machine. Then a parrot shell
from the eastern side passed over us and into
Washington Street between them a shot from a
gunboat missed the batteries and struck the hill
just below where we were standing at the moment
there was firing all around us a complete
circle from the fortifications above all around
to those below and from the river. Mrs. Emma
Balfour Vicksburg A City Under Siege
Four Mile Bridge on the Southern Railroad, four
miles east of Vicksburg, circa 1864. Note the
Union soldiers camped on the far side of the
bridge. West of Vicksburg a small railroad line
began at Monroe, Louisiana and terminated on the
banks of the Mississippi River. From there
passengers and freight were brought into the city
on ferries, transferred to railroad cars and sent
to points east. Vicksburg was the funnel through
which men and supplies flowed from the
Trans-Mississippi into the eastern Confederacy.
The Marine Hospital Battery at Vicksburg, taken
after the siege. Located in the southern part of
the city, this battery was one of the
most powerful in the river defenses, mounting
three 42-pounder smoothbores, two 32-pounder
smoothbores, and two 32-pounder rifles. To
maintain control of the Mississippi River in
front of Vicksburg, the Confederates built a
series of artillery positions along the Vicksburg
waterfront. Mounting 37 heavy guns and
stretching for over three miles in length, the
Confederate River Batteries made certain that any
Union vessel attempting to pass Vicksburg would
have to run through a gauntlet of fire.
Steamboats docked at Vicksburg, circa 1866. As
long as the Confederacy controlled Vicksburg,
they could deny use of the Mississippi River to
Northern shipping. Steamboatmen who follow a
legitimate business, and who have manhood enough
to attend to their own business, without carrying
into our midst the weapons of destruction,
wherewith to murder our citizens and destroy our
young Confederacy, will ever be allowed, without
let or hindrance, to navigate the free waters of
the Mississippi... Vicksburg Evening Citizen,
January 31, 1861
Mr. Tom Lewis standing in front of a cave on
Grove Street, Circa 1890s. To escape the hail of
iron being thrown into the city during the siege,
citizens dug caves into the sides of the hills
for shelter. The caves did their job very well
during the siege less than 20 civilians were
killed by the bombardment. The cave was an
excavation in the earth the size of a large room,
high enough for the tallest person to stand
perfectly erect, provided with comfortable seats,
and altogether quite a large and habitable abode
(compared with some of the caves in the city)
were it not for the dampness and the constant
contact with the soft earthy walls. Mary
Webster Loughborough My Cave Life in
Vicksburg
One of the most unique homes in Vicksburg The
Castle, circa 1863. Note the Union soldiers
camped on the lawn. Constructed in the early
1850s by Thomas Robbins, the Castle was one of
the most interesting homes in Vicksburg. Built
like a real castle, the home boasted a moat and
was surrounded by an Osage Orange Hedge. In 1859
the home was sold to Armistead Burwell, an
outspoken Unionist. Burwell was an outcast in
Vicksburg because of his views and once wrote a
friend, I dare not go any place in the interior
(would be hung or imprisoned if I did). Despite
his allegiance to the United States, after the
siege the Federals destroyed Burwells home and
built an artillery battery on the site, known
appropriately enough as the Castle Battery.
The Castle Battery was part of the Union defenses
of Vicksburg built after the siege to protect the
garrison from Rebel attack. Note the pile of
artillery carriages in the foreground.

• Feint toward the Big Black with the true
  objective being the Southern RR that connected
  Jackson and Vicksburg
• Once the Southern was in his control, Grant could
  turn and attack Vicksburg
• Cut Pemberton off and then destroy him

View of China Street showing the Washington
Hotel, circa 1876. During the siege the building
was pressed into service as a hospital. Reverend
William Lovelace Foster, Chaplain of the 35th
Mississippi Infantry, spent time in the
Washington Hotel ministering to sick and wounded
soldiers. He wrote of the hotel, It was
comparatively secure from those troublesome
mortar shells for the most of them passed over
it was too far from our lines to be disturbed
by firing from that direction. Dr. Whitfield
with several assistants attended to the invalids.
All the rooms were soon crowded with the sick
dying Some in bunks some upon the floor.
Everything was conducted as well as possible but
O the horrors of a hospital!
A Double-Banded Brooke Rifle in the Vicksburg
river defenses, taken after the siege. There were
two Brooke Rifles in the river batteries, a 6.4
inch gun in the appropriately named Brooke
Battery, located in the southern part of the
city, and a 7 inch gun in Battery Five in the
northern part of town. The Brooke Rifle was
invented by Confederate naval officer John M.
Brooke, and were produced in two locations
Tredegar Foundry in Richmond, Virginia, and the
Confederate Naval Ordnance Works in Selma,
Alabama. The fire from the 7-inch Brooke, manned
by cannoneers of the 1st Tennessee Heavy
Artillery, played an important role in helping to
sink the U.S.S. Cincinnati.
The U.S.S. Cincinnati, sunk at Vicksburg on May
27, 1863. After the siege the Federals raised the
ship and put it back into service. The U.S.S.
Cincinnati was ordered on May 27, 1863, to try
and neutralize the Wymans Hill and Water
Batteries in the northern part of the Confederate
river defenses. Soon after coming in range of
the Rebel artillery the ship was struck below the
waterline by a 128-pound bolt fired from a 7-inch
Brooke Rifle. The ship tried to withdraw upriver
to safety, but was struck repeatedly by the
Confederate guns and sank, with a loss of five
killed, fourteen wounded, and fifteen missing.
The Willis-Cowan Home, circa 1850s. This house
was John C. Pembertons Headquarters during the
siege. There are no known wartime photographs of
the structure. During a heavy shelling on May 30,
1863, Pembertons Headquarters was struck several
times by Federal shells. Mrs. Emma Balfour, who
lived next door, noted in her diary I never saw
anything like it. People were running in every
direction to find a place of safety. The shells
fell literally like hail. Mrs. Willis House was
struck twice and two horses in front of her door
were killed. General Pemberton and his staff had
to quit it. It was in this house that General
Pemberton met with his generals on the evening of
July 3, 1863, and made the decision to surrender
Vicksburg the next day.
The Warren County Jail on the corner of Grove and
Cherry Streets in Vicksburg, Circa 1864. Captured
Union soldiers were confined in the courtyard of
the jail during the siege. During the
occupation period, the Federals kept Confederate
soldiers and civilians in the jail. Horace
Fulkerson, a Confederate Cotton Agent, was
captured in October 1864 and sent to the
Vicksburg Jail. He recorded his description of
the inmates in his memoirs The prisoners
numbered some three hundred, representing Federal
and Confederate soldiers and civilians, common
thieves, highway robbers, murderers, blockade
runners in fact every class of criminals known
to the calendar of crime. There were in the
crowd young men and old men, boys, a few white
women, and a number of negroes. It was indeed a
grand medley of humanity with dark secrets locked
up in many a breast.
Battery Sherman, one of the Union Fortifications
defending Vicksburg after the siege, circa 1864.
After Vicksburg surrendered, General
Grant ordered that all of the ditches and
approaches used by the Union Army during the
siege be filled in so that they could not be used
by an attacker against the city. In the winter
of 1863-1864, a new defensive line was dug, much
shorter than the first, only five miles in length
that could be held by a small garrison. Battery
Sherman was one of the artillery emplacements
along this new line, located on the Jackson Road
entrance to the city.
Captured Confederate Artillery at Vicksburg,
Circa 1864. When Vicksburg fell, the
Federals took possession of a huge amount of
Confederate Artillery, consisting of 50
smoothbore field guns, 31 rifled field guns, 22
howitzers, 46 smoothbore siege guns, 21 rifled
siege guns, 1 siege howitzer, and a 10-inch
mortar for a grand total of 172 artillery pieces
of all types.
Captured Confederate Ordnance at Vicksburg, Circa
1864. Along with the artillery, the
Federals captured 38,000 artillery projectiles,
58,000 pounds of powder, and 4,800 artillery
cartridges. In 1864 a reporter from the
Vicksburg Daily Herald toured the Federal
Ordnance Department and wrote, We then visited
the yard in which are piled over one hundred
thousand cannon balls, shot and shell, of
different kinds.
Union Soldiers on the lawn of the Warren County
Courthouse after the siege. Note the cupola
support column on top of the clock tower with a
large chunk removed by a shell fragment.
On July 4, 1863, the victorious Union Army
marched into Vicksburg, and the United States
flag was raised over the courthouse. Having to
surrender was bad enough, but doing it on
Independence Day made things worse for the
citizens, and they didnt forget the pain of
surrender. The city did not celebrate the
holiday again for 82 years July 4, 1945, at the
end of World War II was the next official
celebration in Vicksburg. We suppose it is well
enough to remind the absent-minded reader the
Fourth of July puts in an appearance this
morning, the day on which the Continental
Congress at Philadelphia adopted the Declaration
of Independence...In old times it was customary
to celebrate the day with considerable pomp and
spread-eagle vaporing but now, in this
unfortunate section where the great natural
rights of safety, life, liberty, and property
have been almost swept away by our bayonet
rulers, but few are found to do the occasion
reverence. Vicksburg
Herald, July 4, 1872
Unidentified gathering on the courthouse lawn,
circa 1865. On seeing the United
States flag flying over the courthouse, Unionist
Dora Miller wrote, Now I feel once more at home
in mine own country. More typical was
the reaction of Alice Shannon, who wrote to her
sister that she could see that hateful flag
flying from the Court House Hill.
Anne Shannon
Union Soldiers at Brierfield, Jefferson Davis
home south of Vicksburg, Circa 1864. Note the
sign the soldiers erected over the front door,
The House Jeff Built. According to a newspaper
account, there was another sign over the back
door saying, Exit Traitor. The Jeff Place is
also a very fine plantation. The residence has
not been injured, except the door locks and one
or two marble mantels broken up, apparently for
trophies. The Jeff furniture has been removed,
but the rooms are still furnished with furniture
brought here. Vicksburg Daily Herald, 6 July
1864
4
Advantages of Grants New Plan
A Photographic Tour Of Civil War Vicksburg Like
a spirit land of Shadows They in silence on me
gaze And I feel my heart is beating With the
pulse of other days And I ask what great
magician Conjured forms like these afar? Echo
answers, tis the sunshine, By its alchymist
Daguerre.
Caleb Lyon,
Photographic Art Journal, 1851 Jefferson Davis
remarked after the fall of Vicksburg The clouds
are truly dark over us, and I believe this is a
most apt description of the impact the fall of
Vicksburg had on the war. Through the
photographs that follow I will try to transport
the viewer to that Spirit land of Shadows and
walk the streets of wartime Vicksburg. All of
the photographs in this tour are from the
collections of the Old Court House Museum.
Vicksburg Circa 1860 This photograph is one of
the earliest known views of the Hill City.
Founded by the Reverend Newit Vick in 1819 and
incorporated in 1825, by 1860 Vicksburg was a
major transportation hub that catered to
steamboats and the railroad. Boats left daily
providing connections to the major towns in the
Mississippi River Valley, and rail service linked
the city with Monroe, Louisiana to the west and
Jackson, Mississippi to the east. In 1860
Vicksburg had a population of 4600 and was the
second largest city in the state after Natchez.
The rugged hills of Vicksburg made the city a
natural defensive point on the Mississippi River.
One Union soldier on seeing the terrain for the
first time wrote his sister, Tis the opinion of
all that Vicksburg is the strongest fortified
place in the Confederacy.
Corner of Washington Clay Streets, Circa
1864 Note the Washington Gallery Banner upstairs
over William Tillmans Saddle Shop it was one
of many photographic establishments operating in
Vicksburg during the Union occupation of the
city. Photography was invented by Frenchman Louis
Daguerre in 1839, and his invention spread very
quickly to America. The earliest documented
photographer in Vicksburg was a Mr. Gibbs who
owned Gibbs Sky-Light Gallery on Washington
Street in 1849.
Trick Image by Vicksburg Photographer Henry J.
Herrick, Circa 1860. Among the photographers who
came to Vicksburg was Canadian Henry J. Herrick
in 1854. When the war started Herrick closed his
shop and joined a local unit, the Warren
Dragoons, as a First Lieutenant. Most of the
local photographers in Vicksburg joined the army
like Herrick, or were forced to close because of
the scarcity of supplies thus photographs of the
city during the time it was held by the
Confederacy are almost non-existent. But with
the surrender of the city on July 4, 1863, a
number of photographers entered the city with the
victorious Union army. These men made their
living by providing their art to both soldiers
and civilians alike, and they contributed to a
rich visual legacy of life in Vicksburg during
the occupation.
View of Vicksburg taken from the top of the Court
House looking to the southwest. In the distance
with the tall spire is St. Pauls Catholic
Church, and just opposite on the lofty
prominence was the home Sky Parlor Hill, known
for its wonderful view. During the siege
citizens went there at night to watch the Union
shells in flight over the city. Watching the
action from Sky Parlor Hill was exciting, but it
could also be dangerous The other day while
standing on Sky Parlor Hill a shell exploded and
pieces struck in the flagstone near the steps.
This was from a machine. Then a parrot shell
from the eastern side passed over us and into
Washington Street between them a shot from a
gunboat missed the batteries and struck the hill
just below where we were standing at the moment
there was firing all around us a complete
circle from the fortifications above all around
to those below and from the river. Mrs. Emma
Balfour Vicksburg A City Under Siege
Four Mile Bridge on the Southern Railroad, four
miles east of Vicksburg, circa 1864. Note the
Union soldiers camped on the far side of the
bridge. West of Vicksburg a small railroad line
began at Monroe, Louisiana and terminated on the
banks of the Mississippi River. From there
passengers and freight were brought into the city
on ferries, transferred to railroad cars and sent
to points east. Vicksburg was the funnel through
which men and supplies flowed from the
Trans-Mississippi into the eastern Confederacy.
The Marine Hospital Battery at Vicksburg, taken
after the siege. Located in the southern part of
the city, this battery was one of the
most powerful in the river defenses, mounting
three 42-pounder smoothbores, two 32-pounder
smoothbores, and two 32-pounder rifles. To
maintain control of the Mississippi River in
front of Vicksburg, the Confederates built a
series of artillery positions along the Vicksburg
waterfront. Mounting 37 heavy guns and
stretching for over three miles in length, the
Confederate River Batteries made certain that any
Union vessel attempting to pass Vicksburg would
have to run through a gauntlet of fire.
Steamboats docked at Vicksburg, circa 1866. As
long as the Confederacy controlled Vicksburg,
they could deny use of the Mississippi River to
Northern shipping. Steamboatmen who follow a
legitimate business, and who have manhood enough
to attend to their own business, without carrying
into our midst the weapons of destruction,
wherewith to murder our citizens and destroy our
young Confederacy, will ever be allowed, without
let or hindrance, to navigate the free waters of
the Mississippi... Vicksburg Evening Citizen,
January 31, 1861
Mr. Tom Lewis standing in front of a cave on
Grove Street, Circa 1890s. To escape the hail of
iron being thrown into the city during the siege,
citizens dug caves into the sides of the hills
for shelter. The caves did their job very well
during the siege less than 20 civilians were
killed by the bombardment. The cave was an
excavation in the earth the size of a large room,
high enough for the tallest person to stand
perfectly erect, provided with comfortable seats,
and altogether quite a large and habitable abode
(compared with some of the caves in the city)
were it not for the dampness and the constant
contact with the soft earthy walls. Mary
Webster Loughborough My Cave Life in
Vicksburg
One of the most unique homes in Vicksburg The
Castle, circa 1863. Note the Union soldiers
camped on the lawn. Constructed in the early
1850s by Thomas Robbins, the Castle was one of
the most interesting homes in Vicksburg. Built
like a real castle, the home boasted a moat and
was surrounded by an Osage Orange Hedge. In 1859
the home was sold to Armistead Burwell, an
outspoken Unionist. Burwell was an outcast in
Vicksburg because of his views and once wrote a
friend, I dare not go any place in the interior
(would be hung or imprisoned if I did). Despite
his allegiance to the United States, after the
siege the Federals destroyed Burwells home and
built an artillery battery on the site, known
appropriately enough as the Castle Battery.
The Castle Battery was part of the Union defenses
of Vicksburg built after the siege to protect the
garrison from Rebel attack. Note the pile of
artillery carriages in the foreground.

• The open terrain east of Vicksburg would allow
  Grant to make good use of his artillery
• The unfordable Big Black River would secure
  Grants left flank
• An attack directly on Vicksburg would allow
  Pemberton to concentrate his army, but an attack
  toward Edwards would force him to divide it in
  order to protect his railroad supply line

Four Mile Bridge on the Southern Railroad, four
miles east of Vicksburg
View of China Street showing the Washington
Hotel, circa 1876. During the siege the building
was pressed into service as a hospital. Reverend
William Lovelace Foster, Chaplain of the 35th
Mississippi Infantry, spent time in the
Washington Hotel ministering to sick and wounded
soldiers. He wrote of the hotel, It was
comparatively secure from those troublesome
mortar shells for the most of them passed over
it was too far from our lines to be disturbed
by firing from that direction. Dr. Whitfield
with several assistants attended to the invalids.
All the rooms were soon crowded with the sick
dying Some in bunks some upon the floor.
Everything was conducted as well as possible but
O the horrors of a hospital!
A Double-Banded Brooke Rifle in the Vicksburg
river defenses, taken after the siege. There were
two Brooke Rifles in the river batteries, a 6.4
inch gun in the appropriately named Brooke
Battery, located in the southern part of the
city, and a 7 inch gun in Battery Five in the
northern part of town. The Brooke Rifle was
invented by Confederate naval officer John M.
Brooke, and were produced in two locations
Tredegar Foundry in Richmond, Virginia, and the
Confederate Naval Ordnance Works in Selma,
Alabama. The fire from the 7-inch Brooke, manned
by cannoneers of the 1st Tennessee Heavy
Artillery, played an important role in helping to
sink the U.S.S. Cincinnati.
The U.S.S. Cincinnati, sunk at Vicksburg on May
27, 1863. After the siege the Federals raised the
ship and put it back into service. The U.S.S.
Cincinnati was ordered on May 27, 1863, to try
and neutralize the Wymans Hill and Water
Batteries in the northern part of the Confederate
river defenses. Soon after coming in range of
the Rebel artillery the ship was struck below the
waterline by a 128-pound bolt fired from a 7-inch
Brooke Rifle. The ship tried to withdraw upriver
to safety, but was struck repeatedly by the
Confederate guns and sank, with a loss of five
killed, fourteen wounded, and fifteen missing.
The Willis-Cowan Home, circa 1850s. This house
was John C. Pembertons Headquarters during the
siege. There are no known wartime photographs of
the structure. During a heavy shelling on May 30,
1863, Pembertons Headquarters was struck several
times by Federal shells. Mrs. Emma Balfour, who
lived next door, noted in her diary I never saw
anything like it. People were running in every
direction to find a place of safety. The shells
fell literally like hail. Mrs. Willis House was
struck twice and two horses in front of her door
were killed. General Pemberton and his staff had
to quit it. It was in this house that General
Pemberton met with his generals on the evening of
July 3, 1863, and made the decision to surrender
Vicksburg the next day.
The Warren County Jail on the corner of Grove and
Cherry Streets in Vicksburg, Circa 1864. Captured
Union soldiers were confined in the courtyard of
the jail during the siege. During the
occupation period, the Federals kept Confederate
soldiers and civilians in the jail. Horace
Fulkerson, a Confederate Cotton Agent, was
captured in October 1864 and sent to the
Vicksburg Jail. He recorded his description of
the inmates in his memoirs The prisoners
numbered some three hundred, representing Federal
and Confederate soldiers and civilians, common
thieves, highway robbers, murderers, blockade
runners in fact every class of criminals known
to the calendar of crime. There were in the
crowd young men and old men, boys, a few white
women, and a number of negroes. It was indeed a
grand medley of humanity with dark secrets locked
up in many a breast.
Battery Sherman, one of the Union Fortifications
defending Vicksburg after the siege, circa 1864.
After Vicksburg surrendered, General
Grant ordered that all of the ditches and
approaches used by the Union Army during the
siege be filled in so that they could not be used
by an attacker against the city. In the winter
of 1863-1864, a new defensive line was dug, much
shorter than the first, only five miles in length
that could be held by a small garrison. Battery
Sherman was one of the artillery emplacements
along this new line, located on the Jackson Road
entrance to the city.
Captured Confederate Artillery at Vicksburg,
Circa 1864. When Vicksburg fell, the
Federals took possession of a huge amount of
Confederate Artillery, consisting of 50
smoothbore field guns, 31 rifled field guns, 22
howitzers, 46 smoothbore siege guns, 21 rifled
siege guns, 1 siege howitzer, and a 10-inch
mortar for a grand total of 172 artillery pieces
of all types.
Captured Confederate Ordnance at Vicksburg, Circa
1864. Along with the artillery, the
Federals captured 38,000 artillery projectiles,
58,000 pounds of powder, and 4,800 artillery
cartridges. In 1864 a reporter from the
Vicksburg Daily Herald toured the Federal
Ordnance Department and wrote, We then visited
the yard in which are piled over one hundred
thousand cannon balls, shot and shell, of
different kinds.
Union Soldiers on the lawn of the Warren County
Courthouse after the siege. Note the cupola
support column on top of the clock tower with a
large chunk removed by a shell fragment.
On July 4, 1863, the victorious Union Army
marched into Vicksburg, and the United States
flag was raised over the courthouse. Having to
surrender was bad enough, but doing it on
Independence Day made things worse for the
citizens, and they didnt forget the pain of
surrender. The city did not celebrate the
holiday again for 82 years July 4, 1945, at the
end of World War II was the next official
celebration in Vicksburg. We suppose it is well
enough to remind the absent-minded reader the
Fourth of July puts in an appearance this
morning, the day on which the Continental
Congress at Philadelphia adopted the Declaration
of Independence...In old times it was customary
to celebrate the day with considerable pomp and
spread-eagle vaporing but now, in this
unfortunate section where the great natural
rights of safety, life, liberty, and property
have been almost swept away by our bayonet
rulers, but few are found to do the occasion
reverence. Vicksburg
Herald, July 4, 1872
Unidentified gathering on the courthouse lawn,
circa 1865. On seeing the United
States flag flying over the courthouse, Unionist
Dora Miller wrote, Now I feel once more at home
in mine own country. More typical was
the reaction of Alice Shannon, who wrote to her
sister that she could see that hateful flag
flying from the Court House Hill.
Anne Shannon
Union Soldiers at Brierfield, Jefferson Davis
home south of Vicksburg, Circa 1864. Note the
sign the soldiers erected over the front door,
The House Jeff Built. According to a newspaper
account, there was another sign over the back
door saying, Exit Traitor. The Jeff Place is
also a very fine plantation. The residence has
not been injured, except the door locks and one
or two marble mantels broken up, apparently for
trophies. The Jeff furniture has been removed,
but the rooms are still furnished with furniture
brought here. Vicksburg Daily Herald, 6 July
1864
5
Grants March Northeast Logistical Concerns

• The reliance on forage meant that the army could
  obtain food only 2 to 3 miles away from its axis
  of advance
• The army was like a vacuum sweeper stripping
  everything edible along a 6 mile swath
• The lead divisions could fare fairly well, but
  the following divisions had slim pickings

6
Grants March Northeast The Solution

• Divide the army into separate columns on more or
  less parallel roads 5 to 10 miles apart
• McClernand marched on the left flank
• Protected by the Big Black
• Sherman marched in the center
• Grant traveled here to facilitate command and
  control
• McPherson marched on the right flank
• On the road from Utica toward Raymond
• 10,000 men

7
Importance of Speed

• Move your command tonight with all activity
  into Raymond. At Raymond you will use your
  utmost exertions to secure all the subsistence
  stores that may be there, as well as in the
  vicinity. We must fight the enemy before our
  rations fail, and we are equally bound to make
  our rations last as long as possible. Upon one
  occasion you made two days rations last seven.
  We may have to do the same thing again.
• Grant to McPherson, May 11

8

9
The Forces Join

• As McPherson advanced on May 12, he encountered
  Confederate forces under BG John Gregg who had
  arrived in Jackson from Port Hudson on May 8 and
  on May 10 had been ordered to Raymond
• Greggs scouts had seen only the lead elements of
  McPhersons corps and their report led Gregg to
  grossly underestimate the size of his enemy
• He attacks McPhersons 10,000 man corps with his
  3,000 man brigade

10

Greggs plan was to turn McPhersons right flank
but he had insufficient forces to do so
11
Federal Victory

• McPherson piecemeals his forces into the attack,
  but still prevails thanks to overwhelming numbers
• Gregg retreats toward Jackson

SHELLING THE REBEL REAR
12
Grant Changes Plan

• Success at Raymond convinces Grant to shift his
  decisive point from the Confederate railroads to
  the capitol of Jackson
• Knows Gregg has withdrawn in that direction and
  gets reports Johnston is en route there with
  additional troops
• Victory at Jackson will allow Grant to isolate
  Vicksburg from Johnstons reinforcements
• Takes advantage of central position between
  Confederates at Edwards and Jackson
• Requires audacity