Vicksburg: The Campaign that Opened the Mississippi

Military Review,  July-August, 2005  by Jeffrey L. LaFace

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VICKSBURG: The Campaign that Opened the Mississippi, Michael B. Ballard, The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 2004, 490 pages, $39.95.

Michael B. Ballard's Vicksburg: The Campaign that Opened the Mississippi details the struggle for Vicksburg, Mississippi, and its corresponding portion of the Mississippi River. Ballard describes General Ulysses S. Grant's Union forces overtaking Confederate General John C. Pemberton's resource-poor forces to open the Mississippi River and split the Confederacy.

Ballard uses personal letters, diaries, memoirs, reports, and historical data to develop the history of the struggle for Vicksburg. He describes Grant's many attempts to gain control of the Mississippi River; his final siege of the city; and the reasons for his setbacks. Ballard discusses why Union forces conducted "hard war" in response to Confederate guerrilla tactics and cavalry raids. He also describes the long-term effects the battle had on the local population in the Big Black River Bastion between Vicksburg and Jackson, Mississippi.

Vicksburg is a compelling, detailed history of Civil War leaders overcoming opponents who were equally committed to their causes and of the complexities that result from this type of warfare. Ballard's book is a tribute to the courage, determination, and skill on both sides of the struggle.

Major Jeffrey L. LaFace, USA, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

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