Control of the Mississippi River

Western Battles!!

Why did the Union pursue this strategy?

• Cut off the eastern Confederacy from sources of food production

• Using bases on the Mississippi the Union could attack communication and transportation networks

Fort Henry and Donelson

• February 1862

• Grant’s Army of the Tennessee were victorious

Battle of Shiloh

• At the Battle of Shiloh in Mississippi in April of 1862, Grant, probably in a drunken state, was surprised by an early morning CSA attack lead by Johnston.

• The casualties were immense as each side lost ¼ of their armies! The battle raged on despite dark thunderclouds rolling in, and the Union suffered 13,000 casualties to the Confederate 11,000!

• Hornets Nest was a sunken road that was the center of much of the bloody battle and the loss of Union lives when they were surrounded by the Confederates.

• The next day Union re-enforcements will arrive and be able to remove the Confederates from their position

• More soldiers died in this battle than both the Revolution and the Mexican Wars combined. The CSA commander, Joseph Johnston was killed.

• As night fell, and a terrific storm ensued, the fighting stopped. Both sides looked down on the battlefield from their camps and watched as the lightning sporadically lit up twenty thousand dead bodies.

Impact

• Both sides were demoralized.– Newspapers claim this as a Confederate

victory although they themselves had retreated.

– Union Army gained greater control of the Mississippi River Valley

• Grant is suspended, but Lincoln is reluctant to fire him.

http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/shiloh/maps/battle-of-shiloh-animated.html

The Fall of New Orleans

• Grant was going to battle his way south while the Union Navy would battle their way north.

• New Orleans was the largest city in the Confederacy and the gateway to the Mississippi River

• Admiral David Farragut commanded– 18 ships– 700 men

• April 24, 1862

• 2 Forts guarded the entrance to the river– Unable to be destroyed from the water – Plan: Race past them

• Disguised the ships in chains, mud and branches too look like islands and made the run at night

• City fell to Farragut on April 29

• Farragut will then continue his advance up the Mississippi River capturing – Baton Rouge, Louisiana– Natchez, Mississippi

Siege of Vicksburg• Farragut ordered surrender of strategic

Vicksburg, Mississippi, in May 1863. • Location on 200-foot-high cliffs above the

Mississippi made invasion nearly impossible.

• Grant decided to starve the city into surrender; began Siege of Vicksburg in mid-May.

• Facing starvation, city surrendered on July 4th, 1863.

Confederates in the West following Vicksburg!

• Small group of Confederates will continue to annoy the Union army forcing then to keep a significant force in the field in the west.