Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/150

VICKSBURG.  A combined attack of land and naval forces resulted in the capture of the entire garrison on January 11, 1863, of which 200 were killed, the Union loss aggregating 977 killed, wounded, and missing. A new campaign was now planned by Grant to get below Vicksburg and operate from the south. At first he intended to pass around the city through a canal to be cut across the peninsula opposite Vicksburg, but after much labor on the work it was abandoned. An attempt was then made to get in rear of the city by land from the north, several methods being tried and in turn rejected. These attempts to pass around the Confederate right involved tremendous labor in penetrating cypress swamps and enlarging the bayous to enable the gunboats to pass through, and served to illustrate the wonderful ingenuity and resourcefulness of the American soldier. They also illustrated the pertinacity of the commander, which quality eventually enabled him to achieve complete success. Finally it was determined to move the Union land force by a series of bayous running from Milliken's Bend past Richmond to New Carthage, on the west bank of the Mississippi, thirty miles below Vicksburg, while the gunboats ran the batteries protecting the city. This was successfully done on the night of April 18, 1863, by the naval force under Porter, consisting of 8 gunboats, 3 transports, with army supplies, and a number of barges loaded with coal. Although under fire for an hour, during which each vessel was hit, a coal barge or two sunk, and one of the transports burned and abandoned by her crew, but very little damage was done to the vessels and less than a dozen men were wounded, and those only slightly. On the 20th six transports loaded with supplies, protected by cotton bales, and towing twelve coal barges, also ran the batteries, with the loss of one transport. The ensuing operations, which brought Grant's army in rear of Vicksburg and to its final investment, must be referred to very briefly. Within a period of three weeks the battles of Grand Gulf (April 29th), Port Gibson (May 1st), Raymond (May 12th), Jackson (May 14th), Champion's Hill (May 16th), and Big Black Bridge (May 17th), and two assaults upon Vicksburg (May 19th and 22d), occurred. On the last day of March General Pemberton's returns showed an effective strength of 50,000 men. Grant's returns for April gave the actual strength of the forces operating against Vicksburg as 50,000, including the troops guarding his communications. Against the advantage of a naval auxiliary force may be set the superiority of position on the other side and familiarity with the country. It was therefore an even thing between the opposing armies except in point of leaders: on the one side Grant, Sherman, and McPherson; on the other Pemberton and Johnston. The Confederate generals (however able one at least was) were handicapped by divided responsibility and widely separated forces. The casualties on the Confederate side were 8000 in killed, wounded, and missing, and there was also a loss of 88 guns; on the Union side, 3408 men.

Reckoning upon the apparently demoralized condition of his enemy, who had given way precipitately in the affair at Big Black Bridge, Grant on May 19th promptly assaulted the works in his front with a part of his force, but after

some hours was obliged to desist and prepare to invest the city completely. After establishing a depot of supplies and strengthening his communications with the Yazoo, Grant determined upon one more effort to dislodge the Confederate garrison. On the 21st he attacked with his entire force. The defenses were armed on the west and north sides with 128 guns, of which 36 were siege pieces; in addition water batteries comprising 44 guns protected the western front. The result again proved the superiority of the defense under such advantages of position. Although Grant's troops got inside the advanced line of works, they could not penetrate farther, and after eight hours' exposure to a severe and continuous fire from the Confederate works the Union troops withdrew with the loss of 4075 men. The siege was now commenced in earnest; 12 miles of trenches and 89 batteries were constructed, armed with 220 guns—most of which were field pieces; in addition at several points, where the hostile lines were separated by a few yards, small mortars were improvised by boring out tough logs and strengthening them with iron bands. After twelve days of incessant bombardment from the gunboats and the land forces, during which the Confederate garrison, cut off from relief and reduced to ‘one biscuit and a mouthful of bacon a day,’ showed signs of mutiny. General Pemberton surrendered on July 4, 1863. The number actually paroled was 29,391 officers and men; 790 refused paroles. The artillery found comprised 172 pieces. The capture of Vicksburg and the simultaneous defeat of Lee at Gettysburg marked the turning point of the war.

Consult: the Official Records; Johnson and Buel (eds. ), Battles and Leaders of the Civil War (New York, 1887); Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant (ib., 1895); Sherman, Memoirs (ib., 1892); Greene, The Mississippi (ib., 1882), in the “Campaigns of the Civil War Series;” Swinton, Twelve Decisive Battles of the War (ib., 1867); and Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln: A History (ib., 1890).  VICO,, (1668-1744). An Italian philosopher. He was born at Naples, spent the whole of his life in that city, and died there. He studied law, history, and philosophy, and obtained the chair of rhetoric in the University of Naples. In 1734 he was appointed historiographer to Charles III., King of Naples. The great work which has made his name illustrious, the Principj di una scienza nuova d' intorno alla commune natura delle nazioni, first appeared at Naples in 1725; but it was completely recast in a subsequent edition, published in 1730. A third edition, in which the work was considerably enlarged, was published in 1744, shortly after the author's death. On account partly of its obscure and enigmatical style, the work was long in arriving at its proper place in European literature. The Scienza nuova was virtually unknown out of Italy until 1822, when a German translation of it appeared at Leipzig. It was five years later translated into French by Michelet; and the author has since that time found his proper rank among the most profound of modern thinkers.

Vico proposed to himself the task of distinguishing amid social phenomena the regular from the accidental; of finding out the laws which govern the formation, the growth, and the decay of