Vicksburg, MS

Reenactors stand in the remains of Union trenches on the battlefield. October 2012

The Union Siege of Vicksburg in 1863 was somewhat unprecedented in the Civil War. The Union Army had driven what remained of the Confederates into their defensive positions around the City and after numerous bloody attempts at breaking through US Grant and the Union Army began siege operations. Surrounding Vicksburg, the Union Army planned to starve-out the City and its defenders.

The modern and ancient collided on this battlefield with the surrounding federals employing the age-old military tactics of zigzag sapper trenches to approach the Confederate lines.

In the five month encirclement of the City the Union Army burrowed trenches deep enough to deter Confederate snipers and make life livable as the siege dragged on.

With the Union Army’s siege guns surrounding the landslide of the Vicksburg and Union gunboats in the Mississippi River bombarding the City from the west, it was only a matter of time before the City would surrender. Vicksburg was surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant on July 4th 1863.

Image and text by Michael Falco