Home › Battles of the Civil War › December, 1862: Pemberton

December, 1862: Pemberton

MAY, 1863.

1-Gen. Grant having crossed the Mississippi, pushed forward and defeated the Confederate advance under Pemberton at Fort Gibson; and learning that Gen. Jos. E. Johnson was coming to Pemberton's aid, he marched his forces between them, and defeated Johnston at Jackson, May 14, and Pemberton at Champion Hills, May 16, and at Big Black River on May 17.

2 and 3-The battle of Chancellorsville was fought, between Lee and Hooker. Lee's army was inferior in numbers, but he had the advantage of fighting from interior lines, and his movements were concealed by the dense forest. While Lee made a pretence of engaging the Union troops in front, Gen. "Stonewall" Jackson, by a detour of fifteen miles, got to the rear of the Union forces, and, with twenty thousand men, struck the Union right wing, routed it, and compelled Hooker to take up a new position, from which he was subsequently driven. Sedgwick, meantime, had crossed the Rappahannock, and compelled Lee to re-cross the river, thus allowing Hooker to escape. In this bloody engagement "Stonewall" Jackson was mortally wounded by his own sharp-shooters, who mistook him and his staff for Federal cavalry, while reconnoitering.

18-Vicksburg, Miss., was invested. Grant having shut up Pemberton's army within the fortifications, proceeded to capture that stronghold. May 19, the first asssault was made, and was repulsed. Having failed to carry Vicksburg by storm the Union forces threw up intrenchments, and both sides had recourse to mines and countermines. So anxious were the riflemen for the appearance of a head above the works, that a hat held up above a port hole for two minutes was riddled with fifteen bullets. Shells were rained on every part of the city without cessation until the garrison exhausted after forty-seven days in the trenches surrendered, July 4.

27-An unsuccessful attack was made on Fort Hudson, La. After the fall of Vicksburg, however, Fort Hudson surrendered to General Banks, July 9, after a prolonged siege.