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Capturing the Confederate city of Vicksburg was worth the numbered separate Union campaigns to do so. This was because of its strategic position on the Mississippi River. The Union wanted to control the entire river in order to secure a good position on the western front. But not only that, as Vicksburg was a center for receiving supplies to the west of the city and shipping them to various parts of the South. As it came to be, Vicksburg could only be taken via a long siege. The city basically reached a point of starvation.

It gave the Union army control of the Mississippi River

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βˆ™ 8y ago
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βˆ™ 8y ago

The only part of the Mississippi that Union did not control in 1861-2 was the fortress city of Vicksburg. Despite that, the cover of night allowed military vessels to roam the river at will. The Union was under the assumption that Vicksburg was the conduit for Western supplies to reach the East via railway links from Vicksburg. In actuality, that had long ended. If anything, the reverse was true. Either way, the three western Confederate states west of the Mississippi River had ample supplies of their own. The Confederate high command had actually written the city off long before its capture. Union cargo vessels did not move many supplies before or after the fall of Vicksburg. Modern historians call the fall of Vicksburg a Propaganda victory for the Union.

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βˆ™ 11y ago

Vicksburg was a strategic point on the Mississippi. There does not appear to have been a Vicksburgard.

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βˆ™ 13y ago

it caused the surrender of the other confederate strongholds on the Mississippi river.

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Q: Why was The capturing of Vicksburg so important to the union?
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Why was Vicksburg so strategically important?

Vicksburg controlled access to and on the Mississippi.


Why was the Battle of Vicksburg so important?

Vicksburg was important to the enemy because it occupied the first high ground coming close to the river before Memphis. From there a railroad runs east, connecting with other roads leading to all points of the Southern States. A railroad also starts from the opposite side of the river, extending west as far as Shreveport, Louisiana. Vicksburg was the only channel, at the time the only channel connecting the parts of the confederacy divided by the Mississippi. So long as it was held by the enemy, the free navigation of the river was prevented. Hence its importance. Points of the river between Vicksburg and Port Hudson were held as dependencies; but their fall was sure to follow the capture of the former place.


What was so important about Vicksburg and port Hudson?

These strongholds prevented the Union from using the Mississippi as a means to reinforce and supply its forces fighting in the Deep South, and allowed the South to use it for its own purposes.


Why the Battle of Vicksburg was fought?

The battle of Vicksburg was fought over the Mississippi river. The river was a large area for trade.


Why did Grant take such an indirect route to Vicksburg when he had been so close in March?

Union attempts to capture the fortress city of Vicksburg, Mississippi was wrought with failures. As late as early part of 1863, four unsuccessful attempts by General Grant to strike Vicksburg from the rear by moving his army on transports through the rivers and bayous to the bluffs north or south of the city were tactics that met with little success. General Grant tried very innovative tactics to solve the problem of Vicksburg. By digging a canal across the mile wide peninsula, Grant hoped to bypass the Vicksburg artillery, move the army on transports and attack the city from the south. Earlier attempts at capturing Vicksburg were attempted by Union Admiral David Farragut. After he had captured New Orleans, he sailed north to Vicksburg but his fleet was repulsed. Grant then believed that a land assault might prove successful if the Confederate forces protecting the city could be drawn away by a battle elsewhere where they were needed. In early November of 1862, Grant decided to attempt this by marching an army of 31,000 troops towards Grand Junction in southern Tennessee. There the town had a railway that Grant thought could provide him to the Mississippi to a landing point south of Vicksburg. Grant planned to link up with a sizable army under General Sherman. Despite the best intentions, Vicksburg did not fall. A series of maneuvers by Grant and Sherman still were unable to launch an offensive attack on the well fortified city. Finally by cutting off the supply lines to Vicksburg, Grant lay siege to the city. In summary, the assaults on Vicksburg began in 1862 and it held out until July 4th 1863. The fall of Vicksburg was an important victory for the Union. The length of time it took for the Union's river and land campaigns on a city that even Lincoln deemed to be essential, was not a good sign for the power & leadership of the Union's campaign.

Related questions

Why was captain Vicksburg important to the union?

There was no captain named Vicksburg in the civil war, so no person of that name could have been important to the union or anybody else. Perhaps you are thinking of the battle of Vicksburg, which was critical.


Why was Vicksburg's location so important?

Vicksburg was so important because you had to control that city to control the Mississippi River, other wise no matter what else the union controlled, the Mississippi was worthless.


Why was Vicksburg so strategically important?

Vicksburg controlled access to and on the Mississippi.


What was important of the battle Vicksburg?

Even though it is usually overshadowed by the Battle of Gettysburg, the Siege of Vicksburg is the real turning point of the war.


Why was the Mississippi river considered to be so important at Vicksburg?

the importance of Mississippi River is more touristic for the Vicksburg.


Why was the Battle of Vicksburg so important?

Vicksburg was important to the enemy because it occupied the first high ground coming close to the river before Memphis. From there a railroad runs east, connecting with other roads leading to all points of the Southern States. A railroad also starts from the opposite side of the river, extending west as far as Shreveport, Louisiana. Vicksburg was the only channel, at the time the only channel connecting the parts of the confederacy divided by the Mississippi. So long as it was held by the enemy, the free navigation of the river was prevented. Hence its importance. Points of the river between Vicksburg and Port Hudson were held as dependencies; but their fall was sure to follow the capture of the former place.


Why was the Battle of Shiloh so important to the Civil War?

APEX(= -it slowed down the Union conquest of the Mississippi area.AnswerWith this firmly in Union control, he could continue his drive down the Mississippi River and lay a siege on Vicksburg.


Why was the city of Vicksburg so important to both the north and south during the civil war?

Because the defensive strongholds of Vicksburg and Porto Hudson prevented the Union from gaining the full control of the River Mississippi, while their conquest would meant the splitting of the Confederacy into two parts.


Why was capturing the capital of the Confederacy in Richmond so difficult for the Union to accomplish?

The reason the capturing of the Confederacy capital in Richmond was so difficult for the Union to accomplish was because it was so well guarded. The Confederate Army, protected it because they felt the Confederacy would fall if Richmond fell.


What was so important about Vicksburg and port Hudson?

These strongholds prevented the Union from using the Mississippi as a means to reinforce and supply its forces fighting in the Deep South, and allowed the South to use it for its own purposes.


Why the Battle of Vicksburg was fought?

The battle of Vicksburg was fought over the Mississippi river. The river was a large area for trade.


What military strategies allowed of the union to gain control of Vicksburg?

Grant starved out the defenders of Vicksburg after eliminating the possibility of their relief.