Navy to the Rescue

In the spring of 1863, after failing to penetrate Confederate defenses north of Vicksburg, Grant decided to move his large and well-provisioned army across the Mississippi River deep behind enemy lines. He had no authority over the Navy, and Washington would likely deny such a bold plan, but Admiral David Dixon Porter agreed to a potentially suicidal mission to make it happen. His fleet ran past Vicksburg's mighty guns to meet Grant's army south of the city, allowing transports to carry troops and supplies safely across the river. The Navy played a crucial role in gaining Federal control of the Mississippi River and sent vital supplies to Grant's army during the siege of Vicksburg. David G. Farragut commanded part of the fleet blockading the Gulf of Mexico and led the first attempt to take Vicksburg from the river in 1862. Andrew H. Foote used his Western Flotilla to take out enemy forts along the river north of Vicksburg in 1862. Charles H. Davis, who led the Western Flotilla after Foote was injured, joined Farragut for the naval attack on Vicksburg in the summer of 1862. David D. Porter added the firepower of his mortar-boat flotilla to Farragut's assault on Vicksburg in 1863, and as Grant's army blocked Vicksburg from the east, Porter's navy sealed off the city along the river side while navy guns and mortars joined the army's bombardment of the besieged city.

Vicksburg, Mississippi · United States