In Early Struggles for Vicksburg, Tim Smith covers the first phase of
the Vicksburg campaign (October 1862-July 1863), involving perhaps the
most wide-ranging and complex series of efforts seen in the entire
campaign. The operations that took place from late October to the end of
December 1862 covered six states, consisted of four intertwined
minicampaigns, and saw the involvement of everything from cavalry raids
to naval operations in addition to pitched land battles in Ulysses S.
Grant's first attempts to reach Vicksburg.
This fall-winter campaign that marked the first of the major efforts to
reach Vicksburg was the epitome of the by-the-book concepts of military
theory of the day. But the first major Union attempts to capture
Vicksburg late in 1862 were also disjointed, unorganized, and spread out
across a wide spectrum. The Confederates were thus able to parry each
threat, although Grant, in his newly assumed position as commander of
the Department of the Tennessee, learned from his mistakes and revised
his methods in later operations, leading eventually to the fall of
Vicksburg. It was war done the way academics would want it done, but
Grant figured out quickly that the books did not always have the
answers, and he adapted his approach thereafter.
Smith comprehensively weaves the Mississippi Central, Chickasaw Bayou,
Van Dorn Raid, and Forrest Raid operations into a chronological
narrative while illustrating the combination of various branches and
services such as army movements, naval operations, and cavalry raids.
Early Struggles for Vicksburg is accordingly the first comprehensive
academic book ever to examine the Mississippi Central/Chickasaw Bayou
campaign and is built upon hundreds of soldier-level sources. Massive in
research and scope, this book covers everything from the top politicians
and generals down to the individual soldiers, as well as civilians and
slaves making their way to freedom, while providing analysis of
contemporary military theory to explain why the operations took the form
they did.
