Question of the Week: 5/21-5/27/18

You may have noticed Chris Mackowski participate in the recent American Battlefield Trust Facebook Live Videos for the 155th Anniversary of the Vicksburg Campaign.

What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned about the Siege of Vicksburg? (At any time, not limited to the recent videos)



9 Responses to Question of the Week: 5/21-5/27/18

  1. William Steinmetz, a soldier born near where I live, received a Medal of Honor for his actions in the “Forlorn Hope” storming party, which itself was something interesting to learn about

  2. The tremendous efforts to literally ‘move the Mississippi River’ so that Vicksburg could be bypassed and made irrelevant without a fight. Those efforts failed (Grant’s Canal), but what an undertaking it was until they had to call it off.

  3. I read “Engineering Victory” a few years ago, about the siege from the perspective of the works, etc. I had never heard of “Coonskin’s Tower” until then. This was a tower built near the Third Louisiana Redan for the purpose of enabling Federal soldiers to fire down on Confederate sharpshooters. It was built out of railroad ties by Lieutenant Henry Foster, known as “Coonskin” because of his raccon skin hat.

  4. Easy. The same thing Lincoln, the North, and everyone else. Grant’s tenacity. He would not be denied no matter what the circumstances are.

  5. To all above responses, that book was givin to me and blew me away. Couldn’t agree more with all of you, I knew nothing of that tower.

  6. When I was studying Napoleon’s capture of Ulm it reminded me of Grant’s Vicksburg Campaign. Halleck made the same comparison. Based on that, I consider Grant one of the finest commanders of the war in terms of operational maneuvers.

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