Overview

In this fifth and final volume of his renowned series detailing the campaign for Vicksburg, Tim Smith sheds much-needed light to this often-misunderstood episode of the Union’s efforts to take Vicksburg. In the entire nine-month-long campaign, there was no more tension and drama than in these seventeen days when Grant’s Army of the Tennessee marched through the wilds of Mississippi, claiming victory after victory, tearing the heart out of the State of Mississippi and the Confederacy. By the end of the swift assault, Grant arrived victorious at the exact place he had worked to gain for months: the high ground east of Vicksburg where he had access to both the city and an open and unchallenged supply route via the Yazoo River to the north. He could finally begin the process of capturing Vicksburg.Civil War historians have long disagreed about how to understand this moment of the Vicksburg Campaign as they analyze Union supply lines, the swiftness of the campaign, and other salient details of Grant’s success. Amid this debate, Tim Smith has written the first standalone investigation of the Inland Campaign, which boasts new insights, keen attention to primary sources, and a broad, clear-eyed look at Grant's brilliance as he led the Army of the Tennessee toward Vicksburg. Completing the Vicksburg series, this book lies between Smith’s Bayou Battles for Vicksburg (January 1 - April 30, 1863) and The Union Assaults at Vicksburg (May 17-22, 1863).

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9780700636556

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Reviews

"""In producing the fifth and final installment of his critically acclaimed study of the Vicksburg campaign Tim Smith saves his best work for last. Wielding his talented pen, the author chronicles the operational phase of the campaign during which Ulysses S. Grant and his Union Army of the Tennessee fought five battles in seventeen days as they drove deep into the interior of Mississippi and to the gates of Vicksburg. The insights and analysis Smith provides of the generalship of Grant and his opponent John C. Pemberton during this crucial phase of the campaign are spot-on and provide the reader with a comprehensive understanding of the complexities of these operations and the artistry of war. But it is the experiences of the common soldier that will captivate the reader, and here Smith is at his finest. More so than in his previous works he mines an impressive array of letters, diaries, and memoirs--scores of which are used here for the first time. With the skill of an artist, Smith weaves the words of the soldiers themselves to present a narrative that draws the reader into the midst of the long columns on the dusty march and to feel the confidence and determination of one army and the indecision that plagued the other. This volume--indeed the entire study--has earned a place alongside Bearss and Grabau in the pantheon of Vicksburg titles.""--Terrence J. Winschel, historian (ret.), Vicksburg National Military Park, and author of Triumph & Defeat: The Vicksburg Campaign, Vols. 1-2"

Author Information

Timothy B. Smith teaches history at the University of Tennessee at Martin. His many books on the Civil War include Early Struggles for Vicksburg: The Mississippi Central Campaign and Chickasaw Bayou, October 25–December 31, 1862; The Siege of Vicksburg: Climax of the Campaign to Open the Mississippi River, May 23–July 4, 1863; and The Union Assaults at Vicksburg: Grant Attacks Pemberton, May 17–22, 1863, all published by Kansas.

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