Question of the Week: 7/8-7/14/19
Since we had so many responses with the Gettysburg question last week, let’s do Vicksburg this week…
In your opinion, who was the best brigade commander during the Siege of Vicksburg? Why?
Since we had so many responses with the Gettysburg question last week, let’s do Vicksburg this week…
In your opinion, who was the best brigade commander during the Siege of Vicksburg? Why?
In my humble opinion I absolutely must go with colonel Lieb. Although the most respected of Vicksburg historians have given Colonel Lieb grades of anywhere from average 2 spectacular in my opinion you cannot separate the results of the battle from the leadership of Colonel Lieb. He was an immigrant of Switzerland and known to have a fiery temper but this young man was put in charge of what could have possibly find one of the more important battles of the war despite its small size. The southerners had decided to try and cut the supply line of the Union Army which was protected at milliken’s Bend. The reason the commander, the Brigade, and the battle we’re all so intertwined is because it was one of the first times freed slaves were used on the battlefield by the Union Army in the western theater. They had very poor training, very inferior weapons and we’re in very poor health even buy Vicksburg standards since they had just been freed from slavery and immediately thrown into the Hellfire. But What mattered most is despite all these disadvantages and obstacles and taking a huge loss in men the Africans showed their intense spirit and bravery and driving off the Confederates with the help of the riverboat Choctaw. This set the tone for the Union Army to become more accepting of utilizing black men as soldiers and increasing their numbers immensely. Battle had a very much larger outcome I’m a war overall then it did tactically.
On the Confederate side, Colonel Frank Cockrell stands out. He and his Missouri Brigade are heavily involved in almost every major fight of the campaign (not at Raymond or Jackson, but heavily engaged at Port Gibson and especially Champion Hill), and saw heavy combat during the siege as well. For part of the siege, Cockrell is held in reserve so that his brigade could be sent to shore up threatened parts of the defense. Cockrell had the advantage of commanding one of the elite brigades in the Confederate army, which probably helps his case in my opinion.
BG Mortimer D. Leggett 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, 17th Corps – for work on the Logan Sap and attack on the 3rd Louisiana Redan/Fort Hill