Overview
Revisiting the Vicksburg campaign with Edwin Cole Bearss is second only to revisiting it with Grant himself. Nobody now living knows that critical campaign of the Civil War better than Bearss, who for a decade was the historian at the Vicksburg National Military Park and has written the standard three-volume account of Vicksburg. That is the opportunity this intensive tour offers—the greatest of Vicksburg historians explaining this pivotal campaign of the Civil War.
Bearss will follow Union General Grant’s precise path from the moment he landed his great army below Grand Gulf on the last day of April, 1863. He will revisit with you the five major battles of the campaign, ending in the siege of Vicksburg itself. In his unrivaled way, Bearss will tell you of the battles of Port Hudson, Raymond, Jackson, Champion Hill, Big Black River Bridge, and conclude with the dramatic siege and surrender of Vicksburg.
This great Union victory, occurring simultaneously with Gettysburg, is one of the most successful end runs in military history. It was a massive body blow to the Confederacy. It opened the door for the evacuation of Port Hudson, which from the Union and President Abraham Lincoln’s point of view, finally allowed the Mississippi to go “unvexed to the sea.” To have it laid out for you by Ed Bearss is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. |
Day by Day
Day 1, Monday, April 7 Meet at the Hilton Hotel in Jackson, Mississippi, for a welcome briefing and dinner hosted by Ed Bearss and HistoryAmerica.
Day 2, Tuesday, April 8 Bearss will take you first to Bruinsburg, where Grant led the largest amphibious operation in American history to that time, then to Grand Gulf to describe its bombardment. The rest of the day Bearss will move the tour, as Grant moved over the next two weeks, through the battles of Port Gibson, Raymond, and finally Jackson. You will spend the night in Jackson.
Day 3, Wednesday, April 9 This second full day, Bearss will lead you, as Grant led his army, from Jackson to Champion Hill, where he fought and won the most decisive battle of this vital campaign. There, after fierce fighting on May 16, Grant’s superior numbers smashed through, driving the Confederate defending force of Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton to the Big Black River bridge on the outskirts of Vicksburg itself. You will follow the armies’ routes and Bearss will describe the final battle, where on the next day Pemberton was driven back into the defenses of Vicksburg. You will spend the night in Vicksburg.
Day 4, Thursday, April 10 This entire day will be spent in the Vicksburg National Military Park. Bearss will describe the events around Vicksburg itself, beginning with the two costly failed frontal Union assaults on the defenses of the city, leading Grant reluctantly to lay on the famous siege. During the 46-day siege, the Union Army would dig nearly 15 miles of entrenchments and bring 220 guns to bear on the hapless Confederate Army and the citizens of Vicksburg before, half starved, they finally surrendered on July 4. As frosting on the cake of this unique tour experience, you will visit the resurrected remains of the Union gunboat, USS Cairo, raised from the bottom mud of the Yazoo River in the 1960s under the initiative and leadership of Bearss himself. You will return to Jackson for our farewell dinner.
Day 5, Friday, April 11 Depart at your leisure following breakfast. |
Edwin C. Bearss