Here's Why the Battle of Vicksburg Was So Important
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Narrator: After 47 days, with Vicksburg defenders facing starvation, Confederate General John C. Pemberton surrendered to Ulysses Grant here under an oak tree, which was later cut down to make souvenirs. The Confederates marched out on July 4, 1863, one day after Robert E. Lee's defeat at Gettysburg.
In a letter to his wife, a Confederate soldier wrote, "News reached here that Vicksburg has gone up the spout. If it has, we had just as well quit and give up the Confederacy." Indeed, the entire Mississippi River from Cairo, Illinois, to the Gulf of Mexico was now under Union control. Although the war dragged on for another 20 months, the federal victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg marked the turning point of this bloody conflict.
The defeat of the Confederacy was a crushing blow to the South economically, culturally, and psychologically. Following the July 4th defeat, Vicksburg did not reinstate Independence Day celebrations for more than 80 years, until 1945. Nevertheless, the South continues to take pride in its military history and to this day, contributes a disproportionate number of soldiers to wars fought by the United States.
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