War In The West Cont.

Perryville:

Halleck was called to Washington to become Lincoln's military advisor after the evacuation of Corinth by the Confederates, Before he left, he ordered Grant, the Union's most capable general, to guard communication lines across the Mississippi. Rather than Grant, Halleck ordered Buell, who was yet to prove himself in battle, to attack and capture Chattanooga. Before Buell and his army could move, the Confederate commander in Tennessee, General Braxton Bragg, without warning, invaded Kentucky. Buell raced to defend Kentucky, and the two armies clashed on October 8 in the battle of Perryville. The battle resulted in a draw, but Bragg felt inclined to retreat to Murfreesborough, Tennessee.

Vicksburg:

During the winter of 1862-63, Grant promised Lincoln that he would capture Vicksburg, the last key city that still held a part of the Mississippi. Grant hoped to take Vicksburg from the north with naval support from Captain David D. Porter and his group of ships. However, movement of the Union troops was hindered as they became bogged down in the marsh country north of Vicksburg.

Grant tried many times to overcome the problems associated with this swampy land. He even ordered engineers to dig a canal to divert the Mississippi River so that the swamp wouldn't receive so much water. In April, 1863, Grant had a new plan. Union gunboats silently slipped past Confederate defences in the middle of the night, and secretly set up a base on the river south of the city. Grant's army then marched down the west side of the river, avoiding a Confederate ambush, to the secretly established base. Grant now had dry land through which he could attack the city of Vicksburg.

In an amazing campaign, Grant's men obliterated the Confederate forces outside the city and moved on to attack Vicksburg. Grant besieged the city in mid-May after the failure of frontal attacks. The Confederate garrison bravely held out for six weeks under constant bombardment, but they were forced to surrender on July 4, one day after the Confederate defeat at Gettysburg.