The Vicksburg Campaign was arguably the most important affair in which the Union army was involved. It was a series of encounters consisting of forced marches, arduously fought battles, and a paralyzing siege; a campaign that took a year-and-a-half to complete, involved well over 100,000 troops, created more than 20,000 casualties, and resulted in the capture of over 37,000 Confederate soldiers. General Ulysses S. Grant knew that if he could take Vicksburg, which is located along the Mississippi River in southwest Mississippi, the North would control this important waterway, and his army would essentially split the Confederacy in two. On July 4, 1863, on the same day Lee began his retreat from Gettysburg back into Virginia, Vicksburg surrendered to Grant's forces after a three-month long siege.
One of the most significant, not to mention interesting, events that allowed Grant to seize Vicksburg on that Fourth of July was a cavalry raid that took place two-and-a-half months earlier. Colonel Benjamin Grierson, an Illinois man who had but 18 months military experience under his belt by April of 1863, was called upon to lead a cavalry raid from LaGrange, Tennessee, through central Mississippi. What came to be was the great excursion simply called "Grierson's Raid."
Grierson was by no means willing to be a cavalry officer. A man who hated horses since a childhood accident involving a pony, he protested his appointment to the 6th Illinois Cavalry in 1861. He was a musician by trade, and by no means was he willing, nor did he believe himself able, to be a cavalryman. But even with all of his "shortcomings," General William T. Sherman called him "the best cavalry officer I have yet had" (Korn, 88). That was enough for Grant to put him at the head of the raid.
Grierson's cavalry of roughly 1,700 men set off from LaGrange on April 17. His orders were to follow a route between Mississippi's two north and south railways, cut both of these lines, and more importantly, cut the Southern Mississippi Railroad, which ran from Vicksburg through Jackson and further east (Korn, 88). He was also to disrupt enemy communications, forage for supplies and destroy the rest, and leave the enemy as oblivious to his cavalry's size. He was to eventually return to LaGrange by way of Alabama. His men were ordered to draw five days' rations, presuming that would be the length of time needed for the endeavor. Even with these plans, neither Grierson nor his cavalry would return to Tennessee as instructed. The Confederate cavalry stood in his way.
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