Chapter 67: The Union Ensures Ultimate Victory on Two Consecutive Days in July 1863

In the first week of July 1863, Union wins at Gettysburg in the east and Vicksburg in the west ensure that the South’s hopes for victory are over.

Gettysburg represents Lee’s second attempt to take the war into the North. The battle begins by accident after a skirmish on the outskirts of town turns into a full-scale clash over three days pitting some 80,000 Confederates against nearly 100,000 Union troops.

Success seems within Lee’s grasp on July 1 until Union reinforcements secure a high ground position along Cemetery Ridge. Attempts to dislodge them on July 2 fall short, and on July 3 the failed Pickett-Pettigrew charge gives Pennsylvania General George Meade a win, forcing a retreat by the Confederates back home to safety. A distraught Lee offers to resign his command, but it is rejected by President Davis. Meade is criticized for allowing Lee to escape.

Casualties at Gettysburg are appalling, with nearly 50,000 killed, wounded or missing, about evenly divided between the two sides.

Meanwhile in the west, Ulysses Grant’s attention since late in 1862 has been on capturing the Southern citadel at Vicksburg. He has already taken control of the Mississippi River to the north and south, and if he succeeds at Vicksburg the Confederate forces in Texas and beyond will be cut off from their eastern allies.

As master of siege tactics, Grant tightens the noose around Vicksburg for four months before finally forcing a surrender by General John Pemberton on July 4, 1863.

After the losses at Gettysburg and Vicksburg the only hope for the South will lie in fighting a defensive war aimed at wearing the Northern public down to the point where they demand peace negotiations. And this nearly happens.