Booknotes: The Siege of Vicksburg

New Arrival:
• The Siege of Vicksburg: Climax of the Campaign to Open the Mississippi River, May 23-July 4, 1863 by Timothy B. Smith (UP of Kansas, 2021).

After decades of neglect, book-length studies of various stages of the long 1862-63 Vicksburg Campaign are finally arriving to fill in the gaps and augment classic works such as the Bearss trilogy. Soon after the release of two books that covered in great depth the May 19 and May 22 assaults (one each from the prolific pair of military historians Timothy Smith and Earl Hess) is Smith's The Siege of Vicksburg: Climax of the Campaign to Open the Mississippi River, May 23-July 4, 1863. A direct follow up to his previous book, Smith's new volume represents the first comprehensive, standalone narrative history of the siege, and a big one it is at nearly 550 pages of main text.

Siege tactics and operations along with other aspects of the static phase of campaign have been discussed in other books, but Smith brings it all together in a single, cohesive account supported by 19 original maps. The book "offers a new perspective and thus a fuller understanding of the larger Vicksburg Campaign. Smith takes full advantage of all the resources, both Union and Confederate—from official reports to soldiers’ diaries and letters to newspaper accounts—to offer in vivid detail a compelling narrative of the operations. The siege was unlike anything Grant’s Army of the Tennessee had attempted to this point and Smith helps the reader understand the complexity of the strategy and tactics, the brilliance of the engineers’ work, the grueling nature of the day-by-day participation, and the effect on all involved, from townspeople to the soldiers manning the fortifications."

More from the description: Smith's "detailed command-level analysis extends from army to corps, brigades, and regiments and offers fresh insights on where each side held an advantage. One key advantage was that the Federals had vast confidence in their commander while the Confederates showed no such assurance, whether it was Pemberton inside Vicksburg or Johnston outside." The ground-level perspectives of both sides are also detailed, as Smith "offers an equally appealing and richly drawn look at the combat experiences of the soldiers in the trenches."

Smith "also tackles the many controversies surrounding the siege, including detailed accounts and analyses of Johnston’s efforts to lift the siege, and answers the questions of why Vicksburg fell and what were the ultimate consequences of Grant’s victory." Among those topics, Smith's coverage of the activities of Joe Johnston's Army of Relief as well as his overall interpretation of the general's conduct during the campaign will be of particular interest to me.