Jackson expedition

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Not to be confused with Battle of Jackson, Mississippi.
Jackson expedition
Part of the American Civil War
Jacksonsiege.jpg
Siege of Jackson, Mississippi, July 10–16, 1863
DateJuly 5–25, 1863
Location
Near Jackson, Mississippi
Result Union victory
Belligerents
United States United States (Union) Confederate States of America CSA (Confederacy)
Commanders and leaders
William Tecumseh Sherman Joseph E. Johnston
Strength
40,000[1] 30,000[1]
Casualties and losses
129 killed
762 wounded
231 missing[2][3][4]		 71 killed
504 wounded
25 missing[2][3][4]

The Jackson expedition, also known as the siege of Jackson, immediately followed the Confederate surrender of Vicksburg, Mississippi, to Union Army Major General Ulysses S. Grant on July 4, 1863. Grant had conducted a successful siege by the Union Army of the Tennessee under his command. The Confederate Army of Mississippi at Vicksburg, Mississippi, which was under the command of Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton, had been isolated in the Vicksburg defenses by Grant's army since May 18, 1863. The Confederates were under constant bombardment and had to fight off a series of Union army attacks during the siege. Pemberton was unable to receive supplies of food and ammunition and was compelled to surrender the city and his forces. With the capture of Port Hudson, Louisiana at the conclusion of the Siege of Port Hudson on July 9, 1863, the Union Army and Union Navy gained complete control of the Mississippi River.

Preceding the siege at Vicksburg, Grant's army had devastated the defenses and railroad facilities at Jackson, Mississippi. The Confederate garrison had been placed under the command of General Joseph E. Johnston in the Confederate Department of the West only on May 9, 1863. Attacking the city with two corps, the Union force drove the Confederates out of the city on May 14, 1863, the day after Johnston had arrived under orders to take charge of the area's defense. Johnston had only about 6,000 men to defend the city because Pemberton had moved most of his force west toward Vicksburg. After driving Johnston and the Jackson garrison to Clinton, Mississippi twenty-five miles away and causing major damage to railroad and other facilities, the Union force immediately left Jackson to pursue Pemberton. They joined the rest of Grant's army in defeating Pemberton's army at the Battle of Champion Hill on May 16, 1863 and the Battle of Big Black River Bridge on May 17, 1863, pushing Pemberton's main force in the field back to the Vicksburg defenses by May 18, 1863.

Johnston needed time to receive reinforcements for the Jackson garrison before attempting to move back to Jackson and then on to the relief of Vicksburg. Johnston's delayed and cautious effort to relieve Pemberton's forces at Vicksburg in the final days of the siege was too late to get into position to make an attempt to lift the siege. Johnston also had concluded that his force was too small to try to accomplish a relief without also being trapped by Grant's army.

Johnston's forces from the reinforced Jackson garrison were still at the Big Black River near Vicksburg as the siege of Vicksburg came to a successful conclusion for the Union army. Grant was concerned about a possible attack by Johnston's force on his army and a Confederate attempt to retake Vicksburg. Major General William Tecumseh Sherman had already deployed the recently arrived IX Corps under Major General John G. Parke in a position to defend against Johnston's approaching force. On the same date as the surrender of Vicksburg, July 4, 1863, Grant ordered Sherman to lead an expedition to clear Johnston's forces from the Vicksburg area and to recapture the state capital and railroad center at Jackson. Sherman's corps combined with all or part of three other corps pushed Johnston's force back to Jackson by July 10, 1863. After a few engagements during a brief siege of Jackson, Sherman's corps, reinforced by two other corps and a detachment of a third corps, drove the Confederates out of Jackson on July 16, 1863. This Union victory helped ensure that Vicksburg, the Mississippi River and Jackson, would remain in Union possession for the rest of the war.

Background[edit]

Major General Henry Halleck, commander of Union forces in the Western theater of the American Civil War in 1862, was promoted to General in Chief of the Union Army on July 11, 1862.[5][6] Halleck expanded Grant's area of command on October 16, 1863 from the Department of West Tennessee to a new Department of the Tennessee, encompassing the area in Mississippi that the Army of the Tennessee controlled or could expand into.[7][8] This gave Grant the opportunity to initiate the Vicksburg Campaign with preliminary movements on October 31, 1862.[8][9].

In late 1862, the Confederate stronghold at Vicksburg, Mississippi on the east side of the Mississippi River was the last major fortress on the last section of the river controlled by the Confederacy.[10] The stretch of the river from the Confederate defenses of Port Hudson, Louisiana, 25 miles (40 km) upriver from Baton Rouge, Louisiana to the mouth of the Arkansas River between Memphis, Tennessee and Vicksburg remained under Confederate control.[10] From the Arkansas River, Confederate gunboats could enter the Mississippi River and attack unarmed vessels.[10] Confederate control of this middle segment of the Mississippi River blocked Union navigation over that part of the river and connected the Confederate states west of the Mississippi River to the Confederate states east of the river, especially at the main transfer point across the river at Vicksburg.[11][12]

After the Battle of Arkansas Post (1863) on January 11, 1863 when the Confederate fort near the mouth of the Arkansas River was captured by Union forces, Confederate control of the Mississippi River was pushed back toward Vicksburg, leaving the 240-mile stretch of the river from Vicksburg to Port Hudson as the only section under Confederate control.[13] Several attempts to capture Vicksburg overland from Tennessee in December 1862 or by operations through the nearly impassible bayous on the west side of the river which would allow crossing the river near Vicksburg in early 1863 failed.[14]

Grant then devised a plan for a second campaign to capture the city.[14][15] The planned campaign would start with the Union army crossing the Mississippi River from the west at a point south of Vicksburg in large enough force to defeat the Confederate forces defending the city and dominating the river.[16] Under the plan, after crossing the river, the Union army would approach the Confederate forces and the city from the south, rather than from directly across the river or from the north.[17][18]

Crossing the Mississippi River[edit]

The plan to cross the Mississippi south of Vicksburg required Union gunboats and transports, including supply barges, to run past the Confederate artillery batteries defending Vicksburg from the north.[14] Seven gunboats, one with a tugboat and another with a captured Confederate ram lashed to them, and three transports towing barges of coal made the passage past Vicksburg during the night of April 16, 1863.[19][20] Only a “cotton-clad” transport, the Henry Clay was destroyed by fire after the crew had abandoned the ship and a few coal barges were also lost.[21][22] Only 10 to 12 sailors were wounded during the passage.[22] Six unarmed transports, with twelve barges made attempted to make through the artillery fire from the Vicksburg shoreline on April 22, 1863.[23] Only one transport, which was loaded with hospital stores, and six barges were lost.[24][25][26] The Union boats were manned by army volunteers.[27][28] They suffered two killed and five or six wounded.[23][29]

Unable to move the Union troops south to a river crossing point via the short route through the west side bayous by boat,[30] Grant ordered Major General John A. McClernand's XIII Corps (Union Army) to march to the area west of the river and find a crossing point for a landing near the small Confederate garrison and artillery batteries stationed at two small forts on the east side of the river at Grand Gulf, Mississippi.[31] The Grand Gulf position was about 30 miles south of Vicksburg by land,[32] 20 miles by river.[33] McClernand found a road to a river crossing point near near Grand Gulf at Hard Times, Louisiana.[31] The corps arrived by road at Hard Times by April 27, 1863.[31]

Late on April 28, 1863, about half of the XIII corps boarded transports and barges for the river crossing.[34][35] The Union troops waited for Union gunboats to silence the Confederate batteries defending the river at Grand Gulf on April 29, 1863.[36] The Union gunboats were able to put the lower fort, Fort Wade, named after Colonel William Wade who was killed during the bombardment, out of action.[37] The gunboats were unable to knock out of the stronger upper fort, Fort Cobun, which was defended by the battery of Company A, 1st Louisiana Heavy Artillery Regiment.[38][39] The gunboats and transports were forced to return to Hard Times.[40]

Grant and Acting Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter commanding the Union naval force decided to move farther south to cross the river rather than face continued heavy resistance at Grand Gulf.[38]. McClernand's XIII Corps and Union Major General James B. McPherson's XVII Corps marched to Disharoon Plantation seven miles south of Hard Times after midnight on April 30 while the Union Navy moved four miles below Grand Gulf to the same point.[41] After receiving advice from an escaped slave that the nearest suitable landing site farther south was at Bruinsburg, Mississippi and was currently unguarded, Grant's forces successfully crossed the river without Confederate opposition at Bruinsburg on the night of April 30, 1863 and into the day on May 1.[14][42][43]

Confederate defense of Vicksburg[edit]

The Confederate defense of Vicksburg and vicinity was being conducted by Lieutenant General Pemberton from Mississippi's capital, Jackson, 44 miles by railroad west of Vicksburg.[44] Pemberton had arrived at Jackson in the first week of October 1862 to command the Army of Mississippi.[45] About the same date, General Joseph Johnston was given command of the Department of the West, headquartered at Chattanooga.[46] He was in charge of an area from the Appalachian Mountains to the Mississippi River.[46] Pemberton's Army of Mississippi and Lieutenant General Theophilus J. Holmes's Army of Tennessee reported not to Johnston, however, but directly to Confederate President Jefferson Davis.[47] Johnston asked Davis to save Vicksburg by concentration of action with the combined forces of Pemberton and Bragg along with Holmes's army.[47] Davis had given the commanders autonomy and merely gave them advice rather than issuing them orders to act.[47] Bragg insisted on acting independently in Middle Tennessee.[48] Holmes was in command west of the Mississippi River and also refused to send troops out of his department to help Johnston.[49]

Before Grant's crossing of the Mississippi, Pemberton had been distracted and confused by Grant's diversionary tactics and many troop movements, Grierson's Raid, lack of reconnaissance due to cavalry being sent to join General Braxton Bragg's campaign in Tennessee and faulty intelligence from most of the sources that he still had, including Major General Carter L. Stevenson, a subordinate of Pemberton's in command at Vicksburg, including the area between Haines Bluff and Grand Gulf.[50][51][52] Upon learning of the Union Army's crossing of the Mississippi River at the end of April 1863, Pemberton, who was recently confident Grant had failed and was likely retreating, tried to have troops that he had sent away to reinforce other Confederate forces returned to his command immediately.[53]

Union advance to Jackson[edit]

Immediately after landing on the east side of the river, McClernand's XIII Corps reinforced by Major General John A. Logan, fought an opening preliminary battle near the landing pint at the Battle of Port Gibson on May 1, 1863. After a hard fought battle, the heavily outnumber Confederate defenders of the Mississippi River defenses at Port Gibson were driven off. This made the Confederate defenses on the Mississippi River at Grand Gulf, Mississippi untenable and the Confederates also abandoned that position. By May 4, Grant had moved his army north of Bayou Pierre and changed his base from Bruinsburg to Grand Gulf. He decided that taking the direct route to Vicksburg could lead to his army being confined to narrow and rough terrain between the Mississippi and Big Black Rivers that even might lead to defeat.[54] He decided to move northeast to cut the Southern Railroad of Mississippi between Jackson and Vicksburg to prevent supplies and reinforcements reaching Vicksburg.[55] He also wanted to overcome Pemberton's forces which had been removed from Jackson to the field in an effort to draw Grant into a decisive battle on favorable terrain closer to Vicksburg but without having to retreat to the Vicksburg defenses.

Sherman's corps had stayed across the Mississippi and had made diversionary demonstrations to confuse Pemberton while McClernand's and McPherson's corps landed on the east side of the river and began to move north. On May 9, Sherman crossed the river and joined Grant at a ferry crossing on the Big Black River.[56]

On May 12, 1863, Union Major General McPherson's XVII Corps attacked and defeated a detached Confederate brigade at the Battle of Raymond, despite some mismanagement of the battle by the still inexperienced McPherson.[57]

From the battle of Jackson to the siege of Vicksburg[edit]

After the Battle of Raymond, Grant was unsure of the size of the Confederate force remaining at Jackson or coming into Jackson as Johnston approached to take command.[58] Grant decided that he had to eliminate the threat of Confederate forces from Jackson attacking his army from the rear before moving against Pemberton's force in the field and on to Vicksburg.[58] Grant ordered Sherman's XV Corps to attack Jackson from the southwest while McPherson's XVII Corps would attack from the northwest. Except for a rearguard under Brigadier General John Gregg, the Union attack drove Johnston and the remaining Jackson garrison from Jackson at the Battle of Jackson, Mississippi on May 14, 1863. Soon after Johnston left, Gregg followed and the city was surrendered by militia artillerymen and armed civilians.

Grant's army then marched west and encountered Pemberton's main force attempting to make a stand along the Southern Railroad of Mississippi east of Vicksburg. On May 16, 1863, Pemberton's army was defeated at the Battle of Champion Hill, retreated, and again was defeated in a rearguard action at the Battle of Big Black River Bridge on May 17. The Confederates withdrew into the Vicksburg defenses and on May 18, the siege of Vicksburg began.

End of Vicksburg siege[edit]

During the siege of Vicksburg, Johnston had been gathering troops at Jackson, intending to relieve pressure on Pemberton's beleaguered garrison. Johnston cautiously advanced his 30,000 soldiers toward the rear of Grant's army surrounding Vicksburg.[1] In response, Grant ordered Sherman to deal with Johnston's threat.

By July 1, 1863, Johnston's force was in position along the Big Black River near Vicksburg. Sherman used the newly arrived IX Corps to counter this threat.

Jackson expedition[edit]

On July 5, the day after the surrender of Vicksburg was made official, Sherman was free to move against Johnston. Johnston hastily withdrew his force across the Big Black River and Champion's Hill battlefields with Sherman in pursuit. Sherman had with him the IX Corps, XV Corps, XIII Corps, and a detachment of the XVI Corps.

Siege of Jackson[edit]

Siege of Jackson

On July 10, the Union Army had taken up position around Jackson. The heaviest fighting came on July 12, during an unsuccessful Union attack.[59] Brig. Gen. Jacob Gartner Lauman advanced a brigade under Col. Isaac C. Pugh too close to the Confederate works manned by Brig. Gen. Daniel Weisiger Adams's brigade, which resulted in heavy casualties. As a result, Lauman was relieved of command for failing to properly carry out the orders of his superior, Maj. Gen. Edward Ord.[60] Instead of risking entrapment, Johnston chose to evacuate the state capital and withdrew on July 16. Sherman's forces occupied the city on the following day.

The re-capture of the city effectively ended the last threat to Vicksburg.

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Korn, Jerry, and the Editors of Time-Life Books. War on the Mississippi: Grant's Vicksburg Campaign. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1985. ISBN 0-8094-4744-4. p. 156.
  2. ^ a b Dyer, Frederick H. [1] A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion Des Moines, IA: The Dyer Publishing Company, 1908. p. 782.
  3. ^ a b Woodrick, Jim. The Civil War Siege of Jackson, Mississippi. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2016. ISBN 978-1-62619-729-9. p. 103.
  4. ^ a b Ballard, Michael B. The Civil War in Mississippi: Major Campaigns and Battles. Jackson, MS: University of Mississippi Press, 2011. ISBN 978-1-62846-170-1. p. 171.
  5. ^ Shea & Winschel, 2003. p. 33.
  6. ^ Long, E. B. The Civil War Day by Day: An Almanac, 1861–1865. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1971. OCLC 68283123. p. 238.
  7. ^ Long, p. 279.
  8. ^ a b Shea & Winschel, 2003, p. 35.
  9. ^ Long, 1971, p. 283.
  10. ^ a b c Greene, Francis Vinton. The Mississippi. [2] Campaigns of the Civil War - VIII. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1882. Reprinted by‎ Digital Scanning Inc. (August 16, 2004) ISBN 978-1-58218-534-7. p. 28.
  11. ^ Bearss, Edwin C. Fields of Honor: Pivotal Battles of the Civil War. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society, 2006. ISBN 978-0-7922-7568-8. p. 203.
  12. ^ Shea, William L. and Terrence J. Winschel. Vicksburg is the Key: The Struggle for the Mississippi River. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2003. ISBN 978-0-8032-9344-1. p. 16.
  13. ^ Carter III, Samuel. The Final Fortress: The Campaign for Vicksburg 1862–1863. New York, St. Martin's Press, 1980. ISBN 978-0-312-83926-0.
  14. ^ a b c d Hearn, Chester G. The Civil War State by State. Devon: BlueRed Press, 2011. Maps by Mike Marino. ISBN 978-1-908247-04-9. p. 226.
  15. ^ Bearss, 2006, pp. 203-204
  16. ^ Ballard, 1997, p. 138.
  17. ^ Bearss, 2006, p. 204.
  18. ^ Greene, 1882, pp. 108-109.
  19. ^ Bearss, Edwin C. with J. Parker Hills. Receding Tide: Vicksburg and Gettysburg, The Campaigns That Changed the Civil War. Washington, DC: National Geographic, 2010. pp. 90-91.
  20. ^ Greene, pp. 113-114.
  21. ^ Bearrs, 2010, p. 91.
  22. ^ a b Greene, 1882, p. 114.
  23. ^ a b Shea & Winschel, 2003, p. 100.
  24. ^ Greene, 1882, p. 115.
  25. ^ Bearss, 2006, p. 207.
  26. ^ Arnold, James R. Grant Wins the War: Decision at Vicksburg. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1997. ISBN 978-0-471-15727-4. p. 81.
  27. ^ Shea & Winshel, 2003, p. 99.
  28. ^ Miller, Donald L. Vicksburg: Grant's Campaign That Broke the Confederacy. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2020. ISBN 978-1-4516-4139-4. First published in hardcover 2019. p. 3522.
  29. ^ Ballard, Michael B. The Civil War in Mississippi: Major Campaigns and Battles. Jackson, MS: University of Mississippi Press, 2011. ISBN 978-1-62846-170-1. p. 202.
  30. ^ Greene, 1882, p. 114.
  31. ^ a b c Greene, 1882, p. 116.
  32. ^ Greene, 1882, p. 117.
  33. ^ Bearrs, 2010, p. 101.
  34. ^ Bearss, 2010, p. 97.
  35. ^ Shea & Winshel, 2003, p. 103.
  36. ^ Greene, 1882, p. 123.
  37. ^ Bearss, 2010, pp. 98-100.
  38. ^ a b Bearss, 2006, p. 209.
  39. ^ Bearrs, 2010, p. 99.
  40. ^ Bearrs, 2010, p. 101.
  41. ^ Shea & Winshel, 2003, p. 104.
  42. ^ Bearss, 2006, p. 210.
  43. ^ Shea & Winschel, 2003, p. 104.
  44. ^ Bearss, 2010, p.89.
  45. ^ Miller, 2020, pp 191-192.
  46. ^ a b Miller, 2020, p. 192.
  47. ^ a b c Miller, 2020, p. 193.
  48. ^ Miller, 2020 pp. 193, 195
  49. ^ Miller, 2020, p. 194.
  50. ^ Bearss, 2010, pp. 89-91.
  51. ^ Miller, 2020, pp. 344-345, 349, 360.
  52. ^ Greene, 1882, pp. 117-122.
  53. ^ Greene, p. 119.
  54. ^ Shea & Winshel, 2003, p. 117.
  55. ^ Shea & Winshel, 2003, p. 118.
  56. ^ Miller, 2020, p. 380.
  57. ^ Miller, 2020, p. 385.
  58. ^ a b Miller, 2020, p. 387.
  59. ^ Thompson, Seymour D. [3] Recollections with the Third Iowa. Cincinnati: Published for the author, 1864. Online version OCLC 665223633.. p. 388.
  60. ^ Gue, Benjamin F. [4] History of Iowa from the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century. Volume 4. New York, Century History Co, 1903. OCLC 63712359 1903. p. 164. Biographical sketch of Jacob G. Lauman.

References[edit]

  • Arnold, James R. Grant Wins the War: Decision at Vicksburg. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1997. ISBN 978-0-471-15727-4.
  • Ballard, Michael B. The Civil War in Mississippi: Major Campaigns and Battles. Jackson, MS: University of Mississippi Press, 2011. ISBN 978-1-62846-170-1.
  • Ballard, Michael B. Vicksburg, The Campaign that Opened the Mississippi. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0-8078-2893-9.
  • Bearss, Edwin C. Fields of Honor: Pivotal Battles of the Civil War. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society, 2006. ISBN 978-0-7922-7568-8.
  • Bearss, Edwin C. with J. Parker Hills. Receding Tide: Vicksburg and Gettysburg, The Campaigns That Changed the Civil War. Washington, DC: National Geographic, 2010. ISBN 978-1-4262-0510-1.
  • Carter III, Samuel. The Final Fortress: The Campaign for Vicksburg 1862–1863. New York, St. Martin's Press, 1980. ISBN 978-0-312-83926-0.
  • Dyer, Frederick H. [5] A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion Des Moines, IA: The Dyer Publishing Company, 1908.
  • Greene, Francis Vinton. The Mississippi. [6] Campaigns of the Civil War - VIII. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1882. Reprinted by‎ Digital Scanning Inc. (August 16, 2004) ISBN 978-1-58218-534-7.
  • Gue, Benjamin F. [7] History of Iowa from the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century. Volume 4. New York, Century History Co, 1903. OCLC 63712359 1903. p. 164. Biographical sketch of Jacob G. Lauman.
  • Korn, Jerry, and the Editors of Time-Life Books. War on the Mississippi: Grant's Vicksburg Campaign. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1985. ISBN 0-8094-4744-4.
  • Long, E. B. The Civil War Day by Day: An Almanac, 1861–1865. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1971. OCLC 68283123.
  • Shea, William L. and Terrence J. Winschel. Vicksburg is the Key: The Struggle for the Mississippi River. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2003. ISBN 978-0-8032-9344-1.
  • Thompson, Seymour D. [8] Recollections with the Third Iowa. Cincinnati: Published for the author, 1864. Online version OCLC 665223633.
  • Woodrick, Jim. The Civil War Siege of Jackson, Mississippi. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2016. ISBN 978-1-62619-729-9.

External links[edit]

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