In April of 1861, the Civil War became a reality at Charleston harbor when Fort Sumter was fired upon by Southern forces. Although many leaders in both the North and South believed capturing the opposing capital would quickly end the war, Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis understood the Mississippi River was a geographic key to victory. Flowing south for 2,320 miles and bringing commerce and prosperity to the vast interior, the river made Mississippi, with more than 600 strategic miles along its border, a battleground for control of the Lower Mississippi River Valley. After the war closed the river to Northern commerce, the states of the Old Northwest demanded action, and by August the Union had committed all the manpower and treasure it could muster to reopening "the spinal column of America." A shallow-draft fleet of gunboats was rapidly built, and by mid-1862 ironclads moved with impunity on the Western waters, yet Vicksburg still held fast, leaving the river closed from its wharf southward for 240 miles to Port Hudson, Louisiana. In the first months of 1863, General Ulysses S. Grant directed a joint operation to open the last stretch of the river. By using multiple diversions against Confederate General John C. Pemberton, Grant made an unopposed crossing at Bruinsburg, Mississippi, on April 30, defeated a Southern force at Port Gibson on May 1, and entered Grand Gulf two days later to establish a base. Rather than march directly north to Vicksburg, he turned northeast toward Pemberton's railroad line of communications. After a Confederate attack on Grant's right flank failed at Raymond on May 12, Grant pivoted east and captured Jackson on May 14. Federal forces then raced west toward Vicksburg and defeated Pemberton's army at Champion Hill on May 16 and at Big Black Bridge on May 17. Union attacks on Vicksburg on May 19 and 22 were repulsed, and siege operations began. Almost two months later, Vicksburg and its army surrendered on July 4, Port Hudson fell on July 9, and the Mississippi River was opened again, prompting Lincoln to declare, "The Father of Waters again flows unvexed to the sea."
