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July 4, 1863, after 46 days, CSA Lieutenant General Pemberton surrendered 2,166 officers and 27,230 men, 172 cannon, and almost 60,000 muskets and rifles to the Federals. Two failed attempts to take the city by direct assault prior had demonstrated the strength of the Vicksburg defenses and compelled Grant to lay siege to the city. Despite constant pleas to Johnston for aid, Pemberton was completely isolated. Eventually, lack of supplies and starvation took their toll. On July 4, 1863, after 46 days, Pemberton surrendered.

Branded a traitor by Southerners for surrendering Vicksburg, Pemberton spent the remainder of 1863 the spring of 1864 in Virginia, an officer without a command.


https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/john-c-pemberton
The Siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi ๐ŸŒธ๐Ÿƒ May 18 โ€“ July 4, 1863

With their backs against the Mississippi and Union gunboats firing from the river, Confederate soldiers and citizens alike were trapped. Pemberton was determined to hold his few miles of the Mississippi as long as possible, hoping for relief from Johnston or elsewhere.

A new problem confronted the Confederates. The dead and wounded of Grant's army lay in the heat of Mississippi summer, the odor of the deceased men and horses fouling the air, the wounded crying for medical help and water. Grant first refused a request of truce, thinking it a show of weakness. Finally he relented, and the Confederates held their fire while the Union recovered the wounded and dead on May 25, soldiers from both sides mingling and trading as if no hostilities existed for the moment.

After this truce, Grant's army began to fill the 12-mile (19 km) ring around Vicksburg. It soon became clear that even 50,000 Union soldiers would not be able to effect a complete encirclement of the Confederate defenses. Pemberton's outlook on escape was pessimistic, but there were still roads leading south out of Vicksburg unguarded by Union troops. Grant sought help from Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck, the Union general-in-chief. Halleck quickly began to shift Union troops in the West to meet Grant's needs.

In an effort to cut Grant's supply line, Confederates in Louisiana under Major General John G. Walker attacked Milliken's Bend up the Mississippi on June 7. This was largely defended by recently enlisted* United States colored troops. They repulsed the Confederates with help from gunboats, although at heavy cost; the defenders lost 652 to the Confederate 185. The loss at Milliken's Bend left the Confederates with no hope for relief other than from the cautious Johnston.

"We have our trenches pulled up so close to the enemy that we can throw hand grenades over into their forts. The enemy do not dare show their heads above the parapet at any time, so close and so watchful are our sharpshooters. The town is completely invested. My position is so strong that I feel myself abundantly able to leave it so and go out twenty or thirty miles with force enough to whip two such garrisons."

Ulysses S. Grant, writing to George G. Pride, June 15, 1863

Pemberton was boxed in with plentiful munitions but little food. The poor diet was telling on the Confederate soldiers. By the end of June, half were sick or hospitalized. Scurvy, malaria, dysentery, diarrhea, and other diseases cut their ranks. Shoe leather became a last resort of sustenance for many adults.

Heavy artillery pieces that were used by the Union in order to force the besieged city and its defenders into surrender

During the siege, Union gunboats lobbed over 22,000 shells into the town and army artillery fire was even heavier. As the barrages continued, suitable housing in Vicksburg was reduced to a minimum. A ridge, located between the main town and the rebel defense line, provided lodging for the duration.

Over 500 caves, known locally as "bombproofs", were dug into the yellow clay hills of Vicksburg. Whether houses were structurally sound or not, it was deemed safer to occupy these dugouts. People did their best to make them comfortable, with rugs, furniture, and pictures. They tried to time their movements and foraging with the rhythm of the cannonade,


[the caves]
[text]
My Cave Life in Vicksburg : with Letters of Trial and Travel

- Mary Ann Webster Loughborough
๐Ÿ“œ [pdf]
Siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi ๐ŸŒบ๐Ÿƒ the famous caves in which residents took refuge from bombardment by Union troops
Battle for Vicksburg ๐ŸŒธ๐Ÿƒ With a beginning force of 33-40,000, the Confederates would resist bombardment, starvation and disease brought on by the siege to nearly the last man...
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โ€œDuring the Nuremberg Trials the Allies tested the IQโ€™s of the National Socialist Leaders." One should likely bear in mind the 'anti-Nazi' bias of those administering the tests and add a standard deviation to these already high scores. (source)
Forwarded from /r/Mapporn
True Percentage of Casualties from WW2
https://redd.it/1lopwh3
@r_mapporn
Forwarded from Hidden Truth
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Die Deutsche Wochenschau Nr. 670 - 1943-07-07

Damage to Cologne Cathedral caused by British bombing raids. Sports festival of the Hitler Youth of the Berlin area in the Olympic Stadium, dancing and gymnastics for the girls. Visit to an NSKK tank driving school by Colonel-General Guderian and Corps Leader Kraus. Midsummer festival of a company on the Eastern Front, inventive soldiers. Fighting on the Murmansk Front. Japanese officers visit the front between Leningrad and Lake Ilmen. Visit to a Turkish military mission on the southern sector of the Eastern Front. Police battalions raid enemy agents and saboteurs in Minsk, Waffen-SS fight against gangs. Temporary start-up of the tram in Orel. Liberation celebrations on the second anniversary of the start of the war against the Soviet Union in many Russian cities. Flight of a night reconnaissance aircraft on the Eastern Front. Service at forward posts on the Channel. A submarine hunting flotilla in action off the French coast, destruction of a British submarine.
2025/07/07 10:12:35
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