The Mississippi campaign was an economic problem created by the Union during the American Civil War in which Union Army troops, helped by gunboats and river ironclads took control over the Mississippi River, therefore virtually splitting the Confederate territory in two while also controlling the South's main artery of transport.
The campaign was planned from the outset of the war as an integral part of the Anaconda Plan for economic 'strangulation' of the South. It started in February 1862 with Union forces pushing down from Cairo, Illinois into Confederate territory and ended with the surrender of Vicksburg on July 4, 1863. Although an important role in the Mississippi campaign was played by armored paddle steamers, the campaign was a pure US Army undertaking, as the ships used were under Army command and were used as army transports and floating gun stations rather than independent battleships. The only exception was the siege of Vicksburg where the army, marching downstream met up with the US Navy under admiral Farragut sailing upstream and the two combined their forces for an all-out land-and-sea shelling of the town.
The Army expedition was commanded by Henry W. Halleck, Ulysses S. Grant, and Nathaniel P. Banks, while Andrew H. Foote and David D. Porter commanded the Mississippi River Squadron. Foote and Porter were Navy admirals, but were under direct command of the US army and most of their boats were either converted paddle steamers or purpose-built gunboats that had never seen the sea. Because of this, the Mississippi River Squadron quickly became known as the Brown-water navy. (A reference to the brown, muddy water of the Mississippi, as compared to the deep blue commonly associated with the sea).
The campaign saw the first practical use of river gunboats and river ironclads, in particular the Cairo class ironclad paddle steamers built by James B. Eads in St. Louis and Cairo, Illinois. It also saw the use of sea mines (At that time called torpedoes, the term being applied to the self-propelled warheads only later), torpedo rams and a brief Confederate experiment in deploying a casemate ironclad, the Arkansas, in a river defense role.
Important battles in the Mississippi campaign were the capture of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, the Island No. 10 and the battles of Memphis Vicksburg and Port Hudson.
Famous quotes containing the words mississippi, river, campaigns, american, civil and/or war:
“Listen, my friend, I’ve just come back from Mississippi and over there when you talk about the West Bank they think you mean Arkansas.”
—Patrick Buchanan (b. 1938)
“The mountain may be approached more easily and directly on horseback and on foot from the northeast side, by the Aroostook road, and the Wassataquoik River; but in that case you see much less of the wilderness, none of the glorious river and lake scenery, and have no experience of the batteau and the boatman’s life.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“That food has always been, and will continue to be, the basis for one of our greater snobbisms does not explain the fact that the attitude toward the food choice of others is becoming more and more heatedly exclusive until it may well turn into one of those forms of bigotry against which gallant little committees are constantly planning campaigns in the cause of justice and decency.”
—Cornelia Otis Skinner (1901–1979)
“I have an intense personal interest in making the use of American capital in the development of China an instrument for the promotion of the welfare of China, and an increase in her material prosperity without entanglements or creating embarrassment affecting the growth of her independent political power, and the preservation of her territorial integrity.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“Standards of conduct appropriate to civil society or the workings of a democracy cannot be purely and simply applied to the Church.”
—Joseph Ratzinger (b. 1927)
“Many of our German friends before the war would come as our guest to hunt wild pig. I refused to invite Goering. I could not tolerate his killing a wild pig— seemed too much like brother against brother.”
—Joseph L. Mankiewicz, U.S. director, screenwriter. Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Countess (Danielle Darrieux)