Siege of Vicksburg
The Battle of Vicksburg was an American Civil War siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi, on a well-fortified west-facing cliff on the Mississippi River. The siege lasted from May 18 -- July 4, 1863. The siege was initiated by the Union army under General Ulysses S. Grant with the aim of gaining control of the Mississippi River by capturing this Confederate riverfront stronghold. Shortly after it fell, the entire Mississipi Valley belonged to the Union.
This is a truly large article, and Before the siege is broken into chunks, as some Wikipedia users have problems with pages longer than 32 kilobytes. Each piece assumes the previous has been read; this goes for all subsequent material. We here give very brief summaries of each section, but for more detailed information, one must read the links provided.
Before the siege
Detailed information of political questions before Vicksburg is available at Political Questions before the Siege of Vicksburg to which we refer the interested reader for a more in-depth discussion. In abstract, Union mood in early 1863 was grim. Many though General Ulysses S. Grant a drunk incompetent and unable to take the Confederate fortress of Vickburg -- he had failed seven times to even get close to Vicksburg. Of several options, the Union chose to go below the bluff and assault Vicksburg from the south and east -- dangerous for the Navy, which had to run the bluff.
Before Grant landed on the east side of the Mississippi, there was much happening (see Actions Prior to Grant's Landing Before the Siege of Vicksburg for more in-depth discussion). The Navy had to get below the well-defended bluff. Troops had to be marched south of Vicksburg well west of Vicksburg in Louisiana. A road had to be built for those troops and their supplies. The Union needed to fool the Confederates as to their intentions. And Grant didn't even know where to land.
Before the actual siege of Vicksburg and after Grant landed his troops, there was much military action -- most notably the burning of Jackson Mississippi and the Battle of Champion Hill. See After Grant's Landing and Before the Siege of Vicksburg for a much more detailed account.
The siege of Vicksburg
Pemberton had withdraw