Fixbering campaign. He discusses how the leadership contributed to a victory. This event was part of historical parks small battles big results symposium. Weve got a great speech for our second session this morning. Dr. Timothy r. Smith is a veteran of the park service and currently teaches history at the university of tennessee at martin. In addition to numerous articles and essays hes the author and editor and coeditor of 18 books including Champion Hill, the decisive battle of vicksburg. His book comes out this fall and actually is now out, and you can buy a copy of it out at our bookstore at battlefield center. So im pleased to introduce dr. Timothy smith. [ applause ] thank you. Appreciate that. Appreciate the opportunity to be here. Ive always heard about it and its my first time to be here. Ive always heard about it and how nice it was and im a believer now. I believe you. Youve got a great place here and appreciate the invitation to be here. Were going to talk about the western theater today, vicksburg, Champion Hill. How many of you have been to vicksburg . I figured that. How many to Champion Hill . Okay, not quite as many but a good number. Champion hill is one of those great battlefields if youve been watching the news, listen to the civil war American Battle trust now you know theyre doing a lot of work down there. In fact, the state of mississippi has just turned over near several Hundred Acres to the National Park service to make a unit of the Vicksburg National Military Park down there. So a lot going down at Champion Hill. So were going to talk about that battle in particular, the larger Vicksburg Campaign just a little bit. I do not have a powerpoint either. Im a little bit oldfashioned. We have a map of Champion Hill which well talk about a little bit. I tend to go a little overboard when i do Powerpoint Presentations and to keep from doing that i dont do powerpoints when i can help it actually. And although im beginning to realize powerpoints can be useful. You see some of them that are very good and they can help you along a little bit. I had a good lesson in this recently. Ive got two daughters. My 12yearold has been after us to get her a puppy. Got to have a puppy. Got to have a border collie. Thats all we heard. No, no, we dont have another little dog. Well, the little stinker made a Powerpoint Presentation to convince us why we need a puppy and of course now were proud new owners of bingo the border collie. So Powerpoint Presentations do work, and i do use those on occasion, but not today. Lets talk about vicksburg, though. Little battles, big results. Champion hill, depends on your definition of little battle, i guess. But could be considered pretty big battle. Now, obviously compared to gettysburg or some of those battles it doesnt reach that realm, but were talking 25,000, 35,000 troops and casualties in the thousands. So its on the high end of a little battle if you want to call it a little battle, but it does have tremendous results, huge results. Im not going to stand here and argue to you like some historians get into topic so much or writing a biography and argue this is where the war was won and lost. Im not going to argue to you Champion Hill is where the north won the war and south lost the war. It will depend in that case on what you think of vicksburg. Now, im guessing here up in the Northern Virginia land we would get a whole lot of eastern centric ideals and the war was won and lost in the east and all that kind of stuff. Well, i hail from the west, of course, and im thoroughly convinced that the civil war was won and lost in the west. Gutted, the confederacy was absolutely gutted while youre just kind of stalemate up here a little bit. Thats arguable. Were getting some feedback on that. Were not here to argue where the war was won and lost. Im not going to argue to you that Champion Hill was the deciding battle of the war. I will simply leave it that wherever you place vicksburg in the whole scheme of the civil war, you put how much emphasis you put on the battle of vicksburg, whether that was the turning point of the civil war or not, that will weigh in how important you think Champion Hill is. What i will argue is that Champion Hill is the Decisive Point in the Vicksburg Campaign. If you do think vicksburg is the turning point of the war or where the confederacy is ripped open fatally, the opening of the Mississippi River, all of that, then you will probably put Champion Hill in a much higher level or category than probably even gettysburg or some of the larger battles that we know much more about. Champion hill is the decisive battle frf vicksburg, the largest battle in the actual Vicksburg Campaign itself. It had tremendous results as ortheme today of course talks about. Now, in terms of narrowing down to Champion Hill itself, were not going to go into major tactical action because, again, with 20,000, 35,000 troops we could get lost in the weeds really quickly. Heres a book about it if youre interested in those tacttle details. Theres some you can go. Were going to kind of keep it simple a bit today, and talk about Champion Hill and the wide turn out the way it did, and so i want to start at the very top and kind of give some background and lead to Champion Hill. Its not going to be necessarily a history of the Vicksburg Campaign but a quick overview. Looking at basically the three levels of war in terms of the u. S. Army today. Anybody veterans . Anybody veterans of the u. S. Military, officers and so on . First of all, thank you for your service. Appreciate tat. Were a grateful nation. All right, thats good. Hey, the army is made up of enlisted men. Thats the back bean of the army, right . I mentioned officers, though. In term of officer education and staff and all that one of my duties was to see to the staff and military group. Id have all kind of military groups coming in and they would parachute in. And i would always think this was right in the heyday of the iraq war, 2002, 2003, 2004. And to most of these guys coming in on the way to iraq or just getting back to iraq, what officers are trained in, of course, are the Different Levels of war. In civil wartime you had too levels. The strategic level the tactical level. Today the modern is inserted in the middle there an operational level of war, which grant and but the civil war commanders wont know about that operation level war. But i want to start at the strategic level and looking at the Vicksburg Campaign, of course, moving down the Mississippi River toward vicksburg itself, the final bastion if you will, port hudson kind of a tag along. But the final bastion has to be taken to the open Mississippi River. Essentially the Vicksburg Campaign is two pronged campaign or a twoeffort campaign. For instance, and im becoming more and more convinced of this as i do more and more work on vicksburg. The first essential effort in the Vicksburg Campaign is actually get to vicksburg. Then the second major strategic large scale effort in this larger anaconda plan, we talked about the Strategic Plan that was and conda plan and all that. The second largest effort was to take vicksburg. So first youve got to get to vicksburg, which is extremely difficult due to the mississippi delta just to the north, due to the 300 foot bluffs to the river on the west, due to the logistical challenges and distance to the south. The only good way to get to vicksburg and approach vicksburg is from the east. And of course thats through confederate held territory, and that is what grant took as we move down to the operational level of war. It takes grant 6 or 7 months just to get to vicksburg. And then of course you have to take vicksburg which there are two assaults. Theyre involved in that, and then of course the famous siege that we all know about. So just getting vicksburg is one major component of the strategic level of the campaign, and then taking vicksburg. This is why you look at some of the rhetoric and writings and so on of the vicksburg cam pape. Youll see they kind of divide this into two different operations. For instance, when grant and sherman finally reached the high ground each of vicksburg and he had attacked back in december this is like midmay and sherman tells grant this has been a Successful Campaign almost to say, hey, this part of the campaign is over. I wanted to do it different way, but youre entitled to the glory for this, and you should make a report to washington. Even if you dont take vishbering, this has been a Successful Campaign, this has been a successful effort. So the first part is getting vicksburg and then youve got to take vicksburg. Champion hill i fully realize im the only thing standing between you and lunch so thats why we need to watch our time. Cha Champion Hill stand in that larger process of actually getting to vicksburg, to a place where you can actually take the city. As a new round of operational level of war within the process of that first effort actually getting to vicksburg, thats when we get into these major six efforts in these Operational Campaign level movement. Grant first starts southward from tennessee down to the Mississippi Central Railroad and through Valley Springs and oxford and close to the river and hes turned back, of course, by those two major confederate calvary raids, and probably the more important raid where he breaks the railroad and that shuts down grants ability to bring new supplies in. So you tear up his forward supply base and the possibility of getting new supplies in, and of course grant is stalled and he turns back. And he later says i shouldnt have, i should have learned i could live off the land, but he will withdraw at that point, so that doesnt work. Thats the first level. Then grant will send sherman in november and december of 1862 where sherman says i landed, i assaulted, i defeated and i took back off. Thats basically his rendition. So those first two efforts to even just get to vicksburg, theyre not working. By that time were in 1863, everything is wet and sloppy and muddy and the river has risen and all the bayous and creeks have risen and full with water. Grant doesnt have a choice what to do next so he starts dig a canal, a thufrd attempt to get across to vicksburg. That doesnt work. He tries to go through Lake Providence, a fourth attempt, that doesnt work. And the Coldwater River into the river that forms the yazu river. That harebrained operation doesnt work. Six of these major attempts over the course of the First Six Months of the Vicksburg Campaign all fail. The operational level of war. Now, what does succeed, of course, is grants second attempt. By this time hes out of options, and this time its april, late march, april, getting into may, 1863. You cant turn around and go back. Sherman is saying lets go back to memphis, lets go down the railroad like we should have done to begin with, like we tried to in the mississippi central campaign. Sure, we got turned back but lets try that again and move forward this time. Thats the way you should do it by the book. Thats the way the general chief is saying do it by the book. And by the way hallic of course wrote the book hes saying do it by the book, go down the railroad. Youve got a secure line of operation supplies. The two major napoleonic theorists. Its been translated into english, and these guys are studying that at west point and thats security and supply lines, maneuver, dont have to fight a battle and all that kind of stuff. As i like to say you all know barbara she was country when country wasnt cool, right . And grant is going to go after the enemy, fight the battles. Who cares about the supply lines . Were going to move forward, fight the enemy and were going to get there. And well see evidence of that as we move forward. Cant go back. The the politics, hes on pretty thin ice in terms of the newspaper editors talk about how drunk he is all the time. Theyre calling on lincoln to get rid of grant. Still theyre calling for their removal and lincoln says i think ill try a little bit longer but the leash is getting pretty short for grant. Hes got to do something. He cant go back. Hes as far forward towards vicksburg as he can get. And none of these different approaches are working to the west, to the north, to any other direction. What is grant going to do . This seventh attempt, this operational level attempt he would lead down the west side of the Mississippi River, cross south of vicksburg and come up in the rear of vicksburg in the east. Well, there are plenty of problems with that, obviously. Lengthen supply lines, confederates if they come out of the fortress of vicksburg and fight you without supplies and so on, that could be very problematic, distance involved. And so there are a lot of problems with this. Certainly not doing it by the book. This is breaking every rule in the book. And i love what grant said later on. Hes talking to newspaper editors, talking about the Vicksburg Campaign and he knows this will not be received very highly, very finely in washington by hallux, stanton and others. But hes sitting there and once he crosses the river, gets to the mississippi and starts towards vicksburg, you can see him counting on his fingers, if i send a message and tell them what im about to do and goes back across the river, up to youngs point by headquarters by boat and up to memphis and by telegraph itll get to washington and then the message will come back. And he says ive got about a week. He says you can do a lot in eight days. And so he breaks every rule in the book and he takes off towards vicksburg, and lo and behold the seventh attempt will succeed. And grant reaches vicksburg. Still got to take it, but he reaches vishbering and thats when we get down to the tactical level and get down to the tactical level and thats when you get into the battles themselves. He really secures a holding inland and moves northward fighting the battle of raymond the 12th, jackson, mississippi, the 14th and then hell turn towards vicksburg and fight the battle of Champion Hill, the climactic battle on may 16th and fight a followup battle may 17th will be the black water bridge. Moving down to tactical level thats where we Start Talking about Champion Hill. What has the confederate commander been doing all this time well the confederate commander has moved out of vicksburg and made some pretty big blunders already. Its like baseball. I was in washington i dont know a month or so ago in september and wore my shirts and all that and ive never been harassed like i was in washington in Early September by all the nats fans. I was very interesting. I very loudly proclaimed, yeah, how its really tough being in first place in the division and all that. Im not loudly proclaiming anything anymore so where was i going . Why was i talking about baseball. I had a thought and it zoomed right out of there. There was a good point to this. I dont know why were pemberton, yeah. Anyway pemberton makes some pretty big blunders here. Thats what it is. You never want to give an extra out or extra strike or whatever. Pemberton gives several extra outs by errors and all that kind of stuff. He comes out of vicksburg and he gets out, and then he crosses actually the Big Black River moving east towards grant, towards jackson. He should have used the Big Black River as a shield to defend vicksburg. Then he moves on across the next creek which is bakers creek, and thats Champion Hill battlefield, of course. Either one of those he could have used to defend on the western side and forced grant to move across creeks and rivers. But each time grant will peat meet on the east side which is completely opposite. Pechl pemberton is breaking every rule so its not working out for pemberton. And really we talk about Champion Hill and the fighting and tactical action and so on, and im becoming even more convinced and i just finished the book on the vicksburg assaults but reading all those letters and diaries, tons of them. Probably in the thousands, and letters and diaries and im becoming more and more convinced even more than just the tactical action of Champion Hill in the days of may 16, 17th, 18th, grants army is reaching a very critical stage here in terms of supplies. Now, we all know about grants supply line. He writes in his memoirs two different times actually i cut my supply line. How do you cut your supply liep twice . He gets mixed up a little bit there. Grant doesnt have a traditional supply line to chase that rabbit and what he has are supplies and moving forward by wagon trains basically. Hes got wagon trains moving forward and are division size elements of his army. And he will move forward with a division and these are reaching the army carrying supplies they need and they are living off the land a good bit as much as they can. Theyre getting the geese and the chickens and the hogs and all that off these farmers plantations. Whats the one key critical component to an army that doesnt go on a plantation, though . You have to have ammunition coming forward, and grant, of course will do that. What i have found in these letters and diaries and so on by the time the army moves northward and fights these battles, but by the time you start to move westward towards vicksburg towards jackson on the 14th, 15th and surely getting into the 16th, 17th and 18th and youre slowing down and an army that large in one area these guys start running out of food very quickly. If i go to 12 05 yall are probably going to start saying wheres our lunch, weve got to eat. These are guys going 2 or 3 days without much of anything to eat, that starts affecting your body, right . And it potentially could start affecting their fighting ability, their fighting prowess. And potentially if pemberton could have hailed on the west side east of the Big Black River, maybe even bakers creek and force grant to slow down even more, take another extra day or two and fight a battle, could that have potentially been a game changer . We dont know obviously, but pemberton will lead on the east side of each of these water courses. Here were getting into the battle of Champion Hill itself on the 16th, 17th and even into the 18th. Of course, Champion Hill occurs on the 16th, may 16th moving from jackson westward towards vicksburg. Now, when i first wrote the book 20 years ago well, it came out i guess 15 years ago. Its hard to imagine this book came out 15 years ago. But when i did a book and published all that i started getting invitations so ive got to come up with a good talk for Champion Hill. Ive got to do this. Who knows but i certainly didnt do a Powerpoint Presentation, but i didnt want to do a bunch of maps and get into the nittygritty of multiple regiments and divisions and all that. Ill organize a talk around, you know, the ill come up with three reasons the battle of Champion Hill turned out the way it did. My dads a minister. We talked about Southern Baptist ministers in mississippi. The joke is you can always tell a baptist sermon because its got three points and a poem. You ever heard that joke . Three poin in a sermon and a poem at the end. Soial thought, well, ill come up with three points. Three points on why the battle of Champion Hill turned out the way it did. And that got blown out the water because i couldnt come up with three reasons. I shot sure it has to do with terrain. Im convinced the battle hinges on terrain. Other battles, we talked about the ridge but you would think the confederates would have the high ground here and have an advantage but the confederates swoop right over and the terrain is really not the deciding factor at Champion Hill. Then i thought, maybe it was numbers, superior numbers. Like nashville or some of these other battles. But when you break it down really the numbers were pretty even on each side actually engaged around 20 or so on each side, so it wasnt actual numbers. Maybe it was the superiority of the individual soldiers. But i dont think anybody would argue the confederate soldier was better than the average union soldier, so how am i going to get my three points here . Ive only got one point and that is the thachlian hill battle turned out the way it did mainly because of leadership. And i want to examine just a little bit in the time weve got left today, i want to examine the leadership and im not going to get into the nittygritty but we did put up a map and ill refer to that a little bit. But i think its critical in terms of leadership. Leadership is always critical. Leadership obviously is critical. Its attributed to napoleon that he said hes rather have an army of rabbits commanded by a lion than an army of lions commanded by a rabbit. You ever heard that saying . Leadership is critical, and i think well see who the lion is as we go through this. Well compare and contrast very quickly the leadership of Champion Hill. Well start with federals and i think whats important to do, of course swrsh to look both ways up and down the chain of commands. Historians talk about in terms of leadership and so on. Youve got to be able to get along with the guys below you or theres going to be some contention, but youve also got to get along with the people above you. Well, grant well start with the federal side, he was the central figure of course to Champion Hill and the Vicksburg Campaign, and he basically got along with everybody up the chain of command. We know the problems grant had had earlier in the war with hallic. A lot of historians argue it was jealousy, hallic was jealous of grant and he couldnt stand that and jealous. And he takes a little bit view and they completely talked and just one register and youre absolutely talking past each other, and that was something similar here. Hallic wanted things done by the book. Grant was not a book kind of guy. Just a classic example ill give you right after shallow and grant got into this great debacle and hallic says ive got to get out of there and leave on the 11th and grant your army is not prepared. If they attack again your army is not prepared to get things in order and doing it by regulation and all of that, and i kid you not theres a letter that hallic sends to grant that says, grant, when we get letters here at headquarters from your officers theyre not addressed properly, theyre not up to chain of command and all that, and theyre not even folded properly. How are you going to win a war, grant, if youre not folding your letters properly . Do things by the book. And grant, of course, who cares how the letters are folded. But thats just the back and forth. Now, a lot of that has calmed down obviously since hallic has been moved to washington. Lincoln calls hallic to washington in july 1862. Doesnt really work out the way lincoln wanted it. Lincoln envisions hallic being the great commander in chief. It turns out hallic becomes the first best rate clerk ive everhead had or Something Like that and it eases the pressure on grant. He counts the days and he has eight days, you know, he can ask forgiveness later rather than asking permission. So grant has got it under control up the chain of command. Now, down the chain of command, lets look at that, we know he has three corp in the army of the tennessee. Two of those are commanded, of course, by grant proteges. His besty. Hes not afraid to tell grant you dont know what year doing at times. In fact, when grant starts this operation south of vicksburg sherman basically says dont do it, but the key is here german didnt sit back and work against grant in the midst of all this. In fact, hell tell his officers i dont like this roundabout movement, but weve got to support grant and do what he says. And so sherman was 100 behind grant. James lee is the 17th Corp Commander. Fearson commands the 17th corp and hes also a protege of grant. Hes young and attractive and all of that. Protege grant likes him. Grants going to get him good situations and so on. Meteoric rise. One day hes lieutenant and next day hes a general kind of thing. When hes promoted in fact fearson himself says i dont know what for. I havent done anything, but thats fearsons relationship with grant. Some historians take a little bit different view of this, and my favorite one of these is ed and basically doing tours and so on and so forth his take on it, he says, grant, turn the corner mcpherson would break his nose. A little bit of a brown nose a little bit, but theyre both firmly in grants camp. The third Corp Commander is not so much a grant fan, not a grant protege, and there are some troubles obviously, and you can read all about this and we dont have time to go into it, but mcpherson or mclaren does cause grant some major problems. As one point he blurts out im tur tired of providing the brains of the tennessee. However, in this Movement Across the river ft. Gibson, raymond, jackson, champion all that, he doesnt have a whole lot of time to be a nuisance and be a problem. The relationship kind of settles down in this blitzkrieg movement as its been called in the middle of the Vicksburg Campaign. Grant pretty much has a handle up the chain of command, down the chain of command and so theres no major argument. Now, that will reignite later on. Grant will actually remove during the siege itself. Up the chain of command, down the chain of command grant is doing fine. In terms of the situation itself grant also has a major handle on the situation. Again, all these different components were going to compare and contrast this in just a second so keep these in mind. Things look kind of bad for grant. One way of looking at it if you look grant is basically caught between two forces. If youre moving north youve got pemberton and vicksburg. Again, you dont put your force in between two larger Confederate Forces or at least two larger callbined Confederate Forces. But grant doesnt care, he doesnt have a secure as we get steps of a major secure line of communication and supply, so things may be not perfect for grant as hes breaking the rules and moving towards vicksburg trying to get to the point where he can attack vicksburg, but you have to remember this is not Joseph Hoover or george mcclellan. Bh things turn sideways, what does he do . He takes over and takes care of the situation. When things went sideways, what does he do . Counter attacks, takes over and things go sideways, what does he do . Counter attacks, wins the victory. Grant is not easily ruffled and of course hes going to take care of this situation as well. In fact, by the time he reached the battle of Champion Hill here but there are essentially three roads coming in from the east, two roads leaving the battlefield on the west. And two of those meet of course at the famous cross roads just south of Champion Hill. Grant has a handle on the situation. His men are on all three of those major roads entering the battlefield. He has all three of the major avenues covered and grant has nearly his entire army up and ready to go on the morning of may 16th some will filter in throughout the day. He has two divisions under sherman back at jackson. Jackson becomes known as chimneyville if that tells you anything what sherman is doing. Hes burning anything dealing with the confederate war effort and some probably thats not. Theres a great story about sherman there in jackson and shes going past this hotel and the hotel owner comes out and flags him down. But he comes out and flags sherman down and says, sherman, youre not going to burn my hotel are you. I got stopped by a Mississippi State trooper one day and handed in my license and all that and he said, okay, hands me my license back. And he says, you know, you can go. I said youre not going to give me a ticket . He said i can if you want me to. So sometimes its better just to keep your mouth shut. But this guy runs out and says, sherman, youre not going painted over the word confederate was United States hotel. And it had formerly been confederate hotel. The confederate was painted over United States hotel under that. So it had originally been the United States hotel. When mississippi seceded it became the confederate hotel. And sherman of course is not very impressed with that. But sherman is back at jackson and theres a military center that will affect our whats the word im looking for, it will threaten grants rear if hes moving westward towards vicksburg. Now, lets compare that with the confederate commander, john c. Bem brten. Lets do the same anal s up and down the chain of command, and pembertons having problems. Whereas grants out in the middle of nowhere in mississippi and cant even get in contact with his superiors. Pemberton has ready access. The problem is both are telling him what to do, and ive often thought pemberton is a in kind of situation it must have been like having two mothers in lieu. I dearly love her, but one is enough. I cant imagine having two mothers in law. The problem is theyre telling them completely opposite things. Dont lose the army losing vicksburg. Which is kind of a problem for the confederacy. If you think about it theres a pattern here. What did the three stooges at fort donaldson do . I used to joke about the three stooges, but im convinced buckner is not one of the stooges. Hes the only one that had any sense. But those three lost the army and theyre going through fort donaldson anyway, right . Arkansas post and of course vicksburg here is a classic example. Dont lose the army losing the place youre going to lose anyway. Johnson knew that but in may 1862 when the forces are moving toward theres no way youre going to keep dont lose the army losing and so johnson is telling pemberton get out of vicksburg, its a trap. Youre going to lose the place, dont lose the army losing vicksburg. Whats Jefferson Davis telling pemberton . Hold vicksburg. It probably doesnt hurt Jefferson Davis plantation is south of vishbering. I dont know whether thats part of it or not. But Jefferson Davis says the nail that holds the two halves of the south together is vicksburg, hold vicksburg. So youve got conflicting orders coming in here. Who do you choose . Youve got to pick. You cant see the future. You dont know whos going to come out ahead. Youve got to go one or the other. You came right down to it davis outranks johnson. Now, looking down the chain of command while grant has his situation pretty much under control with his subordinates, pemberton will not. Pemberton has five divisions. He crosses the Big Black River and then bakers creek with three of those leaving two in vicksburg. None of those division planners have any confidence in pemberton. Probably good reason why. But they dont have confidence in him. But lauring is sent west and causes problems for pemberton. John bowling missourien causes problems for pemberton. Carter stevenson, two of the of the three generals actually will ignore commands at the battle of Champion Hill from pemberton to move northward. If you notice a vast majority of it fighting takes place up on jackson road. If you look down to raymond road theres not a major union push there and very small numbers will hold there. On the union road two divisions and not a lot of heavy fighting there. Most of it will occur up in the northern portion of the battlefield. And throughout the day pemberton will tell boeing and lauring come up and support we need help. And boen and lauring both ignore orders. Now, where do they learn that . What has pemberton been doing all along . Hes been ignoring orders to get out of vicksburg, and they couldnt have learned that from johnson himself. Even before pemberton will relieve tillman. Well, tillman had surrendered for henry, commanded a brigade here. It probably would have been better had tillman just said, okay, im relieved im going home, ill go somewhere else. And of course tillman winds up catching a kettle ball in the shoulder and ends up dying right there. Sometimes its better to keep your mouth shut. He doesnt survive Champion Hill. The point is, though, that the confederate command the high command is just in chaos. Right here on the critical battle of Champion Hill. Now, to further the analysis in terms of pembertons army he does not have a handle on the situation. His army is tired. Theyve marched well into the night, well past midnight, and then theyre up very early the morning of may 16th. Pembertons army is very tired. He had led two full divisions, two fifths of his army in vicksburg to defend vicksburg against pretty much nobody, the navy. Grant has most of his army up and ready to go. Pemberton is lacking nearly half left in vicksburg. On top of all that pemberton is just this, quote, indecision, indecision. He calls counsels of war. Thats never a good thing for an indecisive general, and at that point actually what leads pemberton east of bakers creek where he should have fought grant at the crossing of bakers creek, probably. But he leads him east of bakers creek, calls the counsel of war and lays before his generals the correspondence of johnson and says what should we do . And pemberton says i want to go back into vicksburg. He says johnson says come north and meet him. The majority of his generals say lets not do any of that, lets go down and attack grants supply line which of course doesnt exist at this point. So theres three options here. Pemberton basically says and this is quote, i did not see fit to put my own judgment as movement altogether. My response to that is youre the commander, pemberton. You did not see fit to put your own judgment and opinions so far as to prevent a movement altogether . So there are major problems in the confederate high command in the Confederate Army. Now, thats my opinion. Thats my take on it. Let me give you a little bit of evidence. Dont just take my word for it. Let me give you some participants and what theyre saying at the time. For instance, common soldiers, our common foot soldiers here what are they saying. 46 illinois in terms of grants campaign up to this point is the daring of napoleon. Thats pretty high cotton there to joke yall know the term there. Thats pretty my cotton, a daring napoleon. And here getting close to Champion Hill its extremely critical and for any other general would have been desperate, but they have confidence in grant. Everything being considered we have nothing to look forward but victory and although i can assign no reasonable ground for my fears yet i had them and they weighed heavily. The sprigz had something to do with my fears i was candid enough to admit but i had an ininnate feeling all was not going to turn out well and unfortunately my fears proved to be anything but grounded. Not a lot of confidence in the Confederate Army. Move up the chain of command a little bit to officers. What are some officers saying . George boomer says general grant commits to move his columns. He has displayed great tactics and skills. The passage of this army over the Mississippi River and up to this point is one of the most masterly movements known in the history of any warfare, and it is a success. Contrast that with what a federal officer is saying. So far as lauring is concerned i had several expressions of disrespect and in fact it amounted to that degree of hatred on the part of lauring that captain barksdale and myself lauring would be willing to lose a battle provide hed be displaced. Not exactly the same confidence that youre getting from the officers in the army of the tennessee. Probably the best place to look is grant and pemberton themselves. See what grant is saying. Cross the river and takes a little time and start the move northward leading to champ wherein hill. He issues orders to his soldiers and he says soldiers of the army of the tennessee, a few days will secure to this army the crowning victory over the rebellion. More difficulties and brobations are before us. Let us fight them bravely. History will record it with immortal honor. Grants ready to go. Look what pemberton is writing. The men are much fatigued and i fear well struggle very much. In directing this move i do not think you fully comprehend but i comply at once with your order. You dont see him oozing with anything but desperation there. Later he adds i think bringing this to the conclusion that the advanced army was made against my judgment in opposition to my previously expressed intentions. Basically it aint my fault. You see the differences between the union high command and confederate high command here and Champion Hill . Obviously theres tremendous difference in the two sides where leadership is concerned. And im convinced thats why the battle not getting into the nittygritty of the tactics, but overall thats why the battle turns out the way it did, and why the Campaign Just breaks the backbone of confederate resistance. Pemberton will try to get out those two avenues of escape across bakers creek to the west. The three had become two. In fact one of those quickly becomes held by union forces and theres only one way out. Lauring is actually cut off, and so pemberton fumbles back and hes beaten there the next day and the Confederate Army is devastated. And grant, of course, secureathize ground that he had so much desired. Now all hes got to do is take vicksburg. The battle of Champion Hill, leadership has turned out the way it did and why the campaign itself turned out the way it did. One historian has written, in fact, comparing the army of Northern Virginia and the army of tennessee in his basic conclusion was that one had robert e. Lee and the other didnt. Well, i think the conclusion here is one side had ulysses s. Grant and the other didnt. Big results, huge results. Now, one more thing before we take questions. Weve got time to take questions. I told you i was not a preacher but my daddy is. I do have a poem. Im going to finish with a poem. If youve ever heard of samuel h. L. , wrote a lot about what the soldiers experienced in battle. What it felt like to be in battle. He wrote about the fifth album going into battle on may 2nd and he was tasked to bring ammunition forward on a mule. So they put two big boxes of ammunition on this mule and he got to the top of the hill and just stopped, wouldnt go. And they beat him with sticks and everything and his big old ears flopping and hitting the ammunition and all that and i guess stuck him in the rear end or something and it just took off. But things like that what he describes. He wrote a poem many years later and i think he sums all this up, but it puts a good touching exclamation point to all of this. He calls it where they are today written many years later. To me it was yesterday, a thousand cheers when grant spoke a kindly word and where are they all today . There in line the Glorious Army stood. Now 30,000 blue coats slept but where are they all today . In listening to our midnight tread they wait frd the blow. By day by night we marched and fall in many a bloody fray and many a grave was left forgot. Where are they all today . Great was the southern are at Champion Hill a taste of hell they gave us with their fire. Two hours i saw my comrods fall in death they lay, the smoke, their funeral pall, where are they all today . Two hours of firing tempest then and mcpherson and mclarens men are dangerous facetoface. Pierced the assault, their line is cleft what can they do but fly . Beneath the soft magnolia trees their 5,000 lay, hands touching hands, knees touching knees, where are they all today . But yet we struggle behind the bridge, a chute, a cheer, men may not dream of such a charge again but where are they who held the stream, and where are lollers men . 40 nights and days and nights we hurled the missiles up and down. By heaven it was a fight it last, a host of blue and gray, the canons roared, the muskets blast, where are they all today . One morning 30,000 men laid down their arms and wept because they nar would see again the hills their valor kept. They cheered us who but now have dared, where are they all today . The mighty stream unvexed flows to the main and we cut the south in twain. Where had victors and the foes and the hero souls where are they all today . Where the great river lays and thills that lay their dust their 20,000 graves. The years go by the living still if blue coat are as gray may ask the mounds on yonder hill where are they all today . Thank you. We have time for questions . About five minutes for questions and then its lunchtime. Weve got one right back here. Its a terrific read and i really recommend it, and im not your agent just in case anybodys asking. Near the beginning of your book you talk about how pemberton was being threatened by grant and he was flailing around asking for help from other confederate commanders including kirby smith, who declined. Im curious, number one, why did smith say snow, and number two, why did pemberton ask davis to order smith to provide that help . Pemberton is asking everybody he can. Remember, though, that pemberton is a lower level than kirby smith. Kirby smith would be synonymous with joseph b. Johnson. So if theyre going to talk to together, they would. So pemberton is asking johnston to ask kirby smith. The problem with kirby smith is number one youve got a great big river between you and him. And the union gun boats supply up and down. So to get anybody across the river is going to be problematic and very, very dangerous. The other major problem, of course, is that in the concept of confederate different department. They argue we should make it like it was back in johnstons day, the old Confederate Department number two which encompassed all the territory in the west, straddled the Mississippi River, but here, pembert pembertons department ends at the Mississippi River. The department of east louisiana, and so kirby smith on the other side is a completely different department. Yes, those orders would have had to come from richmond themselves, and kirby smith is not very interested. There will be some movement on the other side, of course, with the attack at milkens bend and then some other advances on the Lake Providence area and so on, but nothing that would remotely aid pemberton in vicksburg. And really theres not much kirby smith could have done anyway, so its a done deal. Est yes, sir. Did the fact that that happened have any confidence in the leadership. Absolutely it does. The other thing is in reading the letters and diaries and so on, everyones convinced pemberton sold vicksburg, that he got a monetary gape and he had a deal worked out a deal. One supposedly had a bouquet of flowers and a letter from pemberton and all that. Theres no doubt in my mind. He was dedicated to vicksburg and he wanted the best for his department than anyone else being a pennsylvania man or whatever. They have a no bill it for a Lieutenant General in the war, especially one who surrendered vicksburg. He resigns his commission as a Lieutenant General and rejoins the Confederate Army way down to the lieutenant colonel. No offense to any lutieutenant colonel. Youre way down there. Now, that being said, what is fact and reality doesnt always translate into what people think and so the confederates are absolutely con finsed pemberton is a traitor. One went so far as to write home and said this should teach Jefferson Davis not to put yankee generals in command. Theres dmout it affects the morr morale and so on. Another question. In defense of pemberton, hes been given this command by his commander in chief to hold onto vicksburg and thats like the safety pin holding onto the coattail so to speak. Hes commanded by johnson by his ability to retreat no matter what, and he said he would retreat all the way to the key west. Do you think he had the lack of r confidence and thought he would say that no matter what . I think so. Johnson and pemberton arent the best of friends and this plays out over the course of the siege. And every day johnston is like, im on the way and he never shows up. Relearn more about that in Atlanta Campaign and all that. Pemberton, i probably kid about him too much. Hes in an absolutely untenable situation, nowin situation. Im not sure that somebody like ulysses s. Grant wouldnt have gotten orders from both sides. He makes terrible blunders here. You talk about grierson and how pemberton is absolutely fixated on these 900 cavalrymen moving through the mississippi. Grants on the other side of the river, but it takes his attention and pembertons head is swivelled toward the northeast, toward grierson and what hes got going on. Meanwhile grant is doing the dirty work behind him before pemberton ever knows it. Then we get into the Larger Campaign here, and pemberton meets grant each time east of bakers creek or Big Black River creek is just incalculable. Why on earth he would do that, except he gets caught in a bad situation and cant rectify it. So i feel a little bit for pemberton, but a lot of it was his own making, and, you know, theres no doubt about that. Times up. Thank you very much. [ applause ] week nights this week were featuring American History tv programs as a preview of whats available every weekend on cspan3. Tonight foreign dignitaries and holocaust survives gather to mark the 7 59 anniversary of the liberation of the auschwitz concentration camp and then theres a ceremony to remember those who perished and to mark the international howl cut off Remembrance Day and remembering tremembering. From july to december, 1863 as they follow confederates through virginia. This event was part of pamplin historical battle, big
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