JULY 4, 1863: OUR SECOND INDEPENDENCE DAY!

 When one thinks of July 1863 thoughts usually focus on the Battle of Gettysburg. What’s not to “like” about that battle- three days from July 1-3 filled with action, drama, and heroics on both Federal and Confederate soldiers. Our minds are filled with passed on memories of Buford’s Stand, the Peach Orchard, Little Round Top, and Pickett’s Charge. The battle really entered the popular imagination through Michael Shana’s historical novel The Killer Angels and the resultant movie Gettysburg.

But as much we desire to romanticize about the battle and that it was the turning point of the Civil War in the Union’s favor, that distinction falls instead on Vicksburg, a Confederate stronghold, which surrendered to the Federal forces on the very day, July 4- the 87^th anniversary of our official founding as a nation. What happened in that Mississippi city coupled with the timing makes the Fourth of July 1863 our second Independence Day.

The victory at Vicksburg was so special for the Federal Union because it was a strategic triumph of paramount importance. Vicksburg was the last link between the Southern Confederacy in the east and in the west. By seizing the city Federal forces split off Texas, Arkansas, and part of Louisiana from the other rebel states and permitted the United States Navy free navigation up and down the Mississippi River.

So, why doesn’t Vicksburg occupy a higher place in American mythology? While Gettysburg was a single battle at a single place, over a period of three days, Vicksburg was a campaign of maneuver with eleven distinct battles in a time frame of about 27 weeks from December 1962 through July 4, 1863. Try putting that action into a single movie! Vicksburg was a much more complex operation than Gettysburg that involved-

o   Logistical operations over a large territory

o   Joint operations between the Federal Army and Navy

o   Siege operations against the city itself

o   Civilians within Vicksburg targeted with starvation

o   Time frame allowed Federal commanders to learn from mistakes

The Vicksburg Campaign was a precursor to total modern warfare that Gettysburg was not. Although General Meade, the Federal commander at Gettysburg, technically won the battle, President Lincoln though it was a shallow victory because the Federal army did not pursue the Confederate army and destroy it. Lincoln would look west to find the general to finally lead the Union army to triumph and crush the Southern rebellion. That general would be Grant, the Federal commander at Vicksburg.

Thus, July 4, 1863, deserves to be considered our Second Independence Day1