The Importance Of The Mississippi River Campaign During The American Civil War

The American Civil war was fought from April 12th 1861 through May 9th 1865. During these four bloody years nearly 10,500 battles, engagements, bombardments, sieges, and reconnaissance operations took place. These battles occurred in 23 different states, and resulted in over 650,000 casualties (Historynet.com Contributors, 2017). The American Civil War was fought on many fronts, and in many theaters. Nearly all historians agree that the most decisive battle was at Gettysburg. However, the eventual Union victory can be linked to one campaign in particular: the Mississippi River Campaign.
To fully understand and comprehend the importance of the Mississippi River as a military target during the American Civil War one must understand the context
Union forces began their journey moving south from Cairo, Illinois. At the same time another offensive was being launched from the Gulf of Mexico (more on that later).
One of the first major battles of the Mississippi River campaign was the Battle of New Orleans. The battle of New Orleans was fought on April 25th through May 1st of 1862. The battle was a crushing defeat for the Confederacy, who had not planned for an attack from the Gulf of Mexico Instead they had planned for an attack to be launched from the North end of the Mississippi River (Hearn, 1996).
Reaching New Orleans unscathed from the Gulf of Mexico was no easy task, but was well worth it for Admiral Farragut and the Union armada. The Confederacy had left New Orleans woefully under defended with roughly 3,000 troops, and less than ten gunboats. Admiral Farragut attacked New Orleans with over forty gunships and 15,000 troops. However, Admiral Farragut made an extremely risky move by bypassing two Confederate Forts (St. Phillips and Jackson) during the night of April 24th. Obviously, the daring move was well rewarded (Hearn,
The battle of Memphis was fought on June 6th 1862. The Battle of Memphis was a naval engagement fought on the Mississippi River. The Union delivered a crushing defeat the Confederacy. However, eyewitness reports of the battle itself describe it more as a brawl than a coordinated military engagement (Anderson, 1989). The Union suffered only four casualties and one disabled ship; however, the entire Confederate fleet at New Orleans was annihilated (Anderson, 1989). This battle furthered Union control of the Mississippi River.
Arguably, the most important battle of the Mississippi River Campaign was fought from May 18th to July 4th of 1863 at Vicksburg, Tennessee. Major General Ulysses Grant commanded the assaulting Union forces at Vicksburg against the entrenched Confederate forces led by Lieutenant General John Pemberton. General Grant launched two major offensives against Pemberton on May 16th and 22nd (Fraser, 2001). The Union suffered heavy losses on these two