Nonfiction become award from the mississippi utah letters. S and he has a book out and you can our bookstore at battlefield center. Introduce to dr. Timothy smith. [applause] i appreciate the opportunity to here. I have always heard about the time. And this is my first i heard how nice it was and im a believer now. A great place here and i appreciate the invitation to here. We will truck about the western talk about ing to vicksburg, Champion Hill. To vicksburg . Been how many to Champion Hill . Not as many. A good number. Champion hill is one of those fields and watching the news and listen to the Civil War Trust they tlefield are doing a lot of work there. The state of mississippi just several Hundred Acres to the National Park a unit of the Vicksburg NationalMilitary Park going on this at Champion Hill. We will talk about that battle the larger r, Vicksburg Campaign just a little bit. A power point either. Im a little bit old fashioned. Do have a map of Champion Hill that we will talk about. Little overboard on power point presentations and nigttygritty he and confuse everybody. When ont do power points i can help it. Although im beginning to points can beower useful. You see some of them that are they can help you along a little bit. Had a good lesson in this recently. I have two daughters, the us torold has been after get her a puppy. She wanted a puppy. Puppy, puppy. About to kill us on this. No, we dont need another dog. Point e a power presentation to convince us why we need a puppy. And now were the proud new collie. Ingo the border so power point presentations do use them on occasion. But not today. Vicksburg. About little battles, big results. Champion hill, depends on your battle. On of little could be considered pretty big. Shilohd to gettysburg or or some of those it does not reach that realm but we are about 25,000 to 30,000 troops on each side, casualties thousands. It is on the high end of a little battle if you want to battle. A little but it has tremendous results, huge results. I wont argue to you like some topic ans get into their so much or writing biography and getting into it too much and where the war was won and lost. I wont say Champion Hill is the north won the war or south lost the war. Depend in that case on what you think of vicksburg. Guessing here up in the army of potomac Northern Virginia we would get a lot of eastern centric ideals and the was one and lost in the east and gettysburg obsession. Hail from the west and ill thoroughly convinced that the lost in was won and he west, gutted, the confederate say was absolutely utted while you are stalemated up here a little bit. That is arguable. Feedback on ng some that. We are not here to argue where was won and lost. I wont argue that Champion Hill the he deciding battle of war. I will leave it that wherever the whole cksburg in scheme of the civil war, high how much emphasis you put on vicksburg hether that was the turning point of the civil war or not, that will weigh in on how mportant you think Champion Hill is. What i will argue is Champion Point in e decisive the Vicksburg Campaign. So, if you do think vicksburg is point of the war or the confederate say you deracy is ripped open will put Champion Hill or in a er category than get us gettysburg or others. Battle in the st actual Vicksburg Campaign its f itself. Results as ourus theme today talked about. In terms narrowing to champion we wont go into major tactical action because with to 30,000 on each side we could get lost in the weeds. Is a good book about it if you are interested in the details. We will keep it simple a little it today and talk about Champion Hill and why it turned out the way it did. Start at the top and give background and lead to Champion Hill. Necessarily a history of Vicksburg Campaign but a quick overview. Basically the three levels of war in terms of u. S. Today. Anybody veterans of the u. S. Military, officers and source. Thank you for your service. We appreciate that. Enlisted man. That is good. List ricanamericrmy is made un machine. Enlisted men. In terms of officer education at shiloh hen i was one of my duties was to see taff rides and military groups and i would have this was 20 years ago, 15 years ago i kinds of all military. Parachute toe with shiloh. Right inthink this was the heyday of the iraq war, 2003, 2004. Most of these guys coming in were on the way to iraq or just from iraq. K and it was amazing to hear some of their stories. Officers are trained in are he Different Levels of war and civil war you had the strategic level and tactical level. Military is ern inserted in the middle an grant onal level which much mberton doesnt know about any level of war but the civil war commanders wont know about that. But i will start at the strategic level. Vicksburg the campaign moving down the Mississippi River toward the final bastion, along but it tag has to be taken to open the Mississippi River. Gain is a two ronged campaign or twoeffort campaign. For instance, im becoming more do more of this as i work on vicksburg, the first in the campaign is to get to vicksburg. Major strategic large plan effort in this larger we talk about the Strategic Plan that was the anaconda plan that. Ll the second major effort in that is to take vicksburg. First you have to get to investigation conviction, which which is sburg extremely difficult due it the mississippi delta just to the 300foot to the bluffs on the river to the west challenges and distance to the south. The only good way to get to approach and conviction ridiculous is from vicksburg is from the east confederate held territory. That is what grant took as we war, it the operational takes him six or seven months get to vicksburg. Then you have to take vicksburg assaults andre two the famous siege that we know about. Vicksburg is one major component of the strategic , then f the campaign taking vicksburg. That is why if you look at some rhetoric and writing of gacampaign they divide it into two different operations. And nstance, when grant sherman finally reach the high round east of vicksburg and sherman looks down across the iver valley where he had attacked back in december this is mid may, may 17, 18 sherman says grant this has been a Successful Campaign part of the this campaign is over. This has been a Successful Campaign. Ou are entitled to all the glory. I wanted to do it a different way but you are entitled to the for this and you should make a report to washington because even if we dont take vicksburg, this has been a successful effort. So, the first part is just vicksburg, then you have to take vicksburg. Hill will im only thing standing between you and so that is why we need to watch our time. Hill will fit that prince georgeser process of process of er getting to vicksburg where you can take the city. As we move to the operational level of war, within the process first effort getting to vicksburg, that is when we get six efforts in the Operational Campaign level movement. Grant first starts southward from tennessee down the Mississippi Central Railroad and through holly springs, oxford alabushi he afternoon river and turned back by the two major confederate cavalry raids, Earl Van Dorn at holly grants hat tears up forward supply base. Probably the more important raid by bedford forest in the ssee where he breaks railroad and shuts down grants ability to bring new supplies in. You tear up his forward supply base and any possibility supplies and grant is stalled and he turns become. He later says i should have i could live off the land and i will file that in on. 13 and use it later but he will withdraw at that poi point. So, that is the first effort. Then grant will send sherman as two pronged movement here in november and december of schichickasaw where i landed was defeated and got back on the boat. To hose first two efforts get to vicksburg didnt work. By that time we are into 1863 everything is wet and sloppy and muddy and river has risen creeks are full of water but grant doesnt have much of a choice of what to do next so he operations. Water he tries to dig canal across the base of the de soto peninsula. That tkoefpt work. E tries to go through Lake Providence. That doesnt work. Path through moon lake nd cold water into the tallahatchee river and that hair do not work. Tion the stills operation. Over the attempts First Six Months of the fail. Burg campaign all the operational level of war. Does succeed of course is grants seventh attempt. Times out of options and it is april, late march, april, into may of 1963. Cant turn around and go back. Is saying lets go back to memphis and go down the railroad like we should have begin and tried in the mississippi central campaign. Back but t turned lets try that and move forward. That is the way you should do it by the book. That is the way that general and rail hallekk. It by the back and you ave a secure line of operation supplies and so pure theory all are versed in. Two y knows about the french theorists. It has been translated into they are studying that at west point and that is ecure your supply lines, maneuver. You dont have to fight a battle. Halleck. Ure klaus. Oubt know about was klauswits when he was not cool. Grant is going to go after the men my, fight the battles. We will move forward and fight the enemy and get there. Well, we will see evidence of that. He cant go back. Thin ice in ty terms of the newspaper editors evenabout how drunk he is, they are calling on lincoln to get rid of grant. We know the statement i cannot spare him, he fights. They are calling for his removal. Lincoln says i will try a little while longer but the rope is for grant. Tty sure he has to do something. He cant go back. Forward toward vicksburg as he can get and none of these different approaches are working to the west, to the direction. Other what is grant going to do . Moveeventh attempt he will down the west side of the Mississippi River, cross south vicksburg and colonel up in the come up in the rear on east. There are plenty of problems. Lines. Ing supply confederates if they come out of vicksburg and fight you without could be hat problematic. Distance involved. Problems re a lot of with this. Certainly not doing it by the book. Breaking every rule in the book. And i love what grant said later newspaper editors and talking about the Vicksburg Campaign and he know it wont be very fondly in otherston by stanton and but once he crosses the river in mississippi you see him counting on his fingers if i tell them what im about to do and it goes up to headquarters by bet up to memphis and cairo and telegraph t washington they will get message and it will take how many days and the message will ome back and i have about a wee week. You can do a lot in eight days. So he broke every rule and takes and the d vicksburg seventh attempt will succeed and grant reaches vicksburg. Still got to take it but he reaches it. That is where we then get to the level and that is where you get into the battles themselves. Fights creating a bridge landing ou will or point. We mentioned normandy earlier and all of that. The ballot of fort gibson may 1 is where he really secures a inland. 12th. Ast move to raymond on jackson on the 14th then he will vicksburg rd toward and fight battle of champion on may 16 and followup battle the 17th at big black bridge. So im now talking about Champion Hill. What has the confederate commander been doing all of this besides chasing benjamin gri grier. Vicksburg d out of and has made some pretty big lunders already and it is like baseball, you have a national aying here i was in washington a month or so ago in seventh and war my braves shirts and i have never been harassed like i was in Early September by all the nats fans. Very loudly proclaimed how it intough being in first place the division but the nats are getting the last laugh so im proclaiming anything any more. Where was i going . Why are we talking about baseball . I had the thought and it zoom right out of there. This, was a good point to nt know why we are pemberton, yes. Some pretty big blunders here and that is what it is. The ever want to give opponent an extra strike or out or whatever. Pemberton gives grant several stuff. Uts by errors and he comes out of vicksburg and crosses the Big Black River moving east toward jackson. Oward he should have used the big shield to as the defend vicksburg. Then he moves across the next bakers creek and battlefield. L either of them he could have used to defend on the west and grant to move across cree creeks and rivers. Grant will meet pemberton on the east side of rivers and creeks. Pemberton is breaking every rule as well. It is not working for pemberton. We talk about Champion Hill and fighting and tactical action. More convinced as i just finished a book on the vicksburg assault on may 19 and 22 and working on the siege but eading those letters and diari diaries, way over hundreds, probably in the thousands of diaries and im becoming more convinced that on tactical just the action of Champion Hill in the 17, 18, grants africanamerican is reaching a is reaching a critical stage in terms of supplies. Writes two different times that i cut my supply line twice. He gets mixed up a little bit and grant doesnt have a supply line to chase that. He has is supplies landing wagon ing forward by trains. He has wagon trains moving basically by brigade or elements. Ize reinforcements come in and he to the e forward division. Send a wagon train with them. Army e are reaching the and they are living off the land as they can. Geese e getting the appear chickens and hogs off farms. Critical e one key component to an army that plantation . W on a mini balls. You cannot pick them off the you ha vine. Ammunition. Have what i found in the letters and the army the time fights the d and battles and move westward toward vicksburg from jackson on the 15th and surely getting into the 16th, 17th, 18th you slowing down and when an army that large is in one area everything nsuming and these guys are starting to run out of food quickly. S a result, what happens when im the last thing between now and lunch. You will start saying where is our lunch. F these guys are going two or three days without much of anything to eat that starts affecting your body. It could start to affect their fighting potentiallywess and if pemberton could have hailed side of the big blo black river and slowed grant day or two could that be a game changer . We dont know. Pemberton will meet grant on the east side of these water courses. Critical o the movement into the battle of Champion Hill on the 16th, 17th into the 18th. Hampion hill occurs on the 16th, may 16 moving from jackson vicksburg. Ward when i first wrote the book 20 it came out 15 years when ird to imagine, but did the book i thought i will to t getting invitations talk so i have to have a good talk for Champion Hill. I dont know if power point i didnt did ut power point presentation. But i didnt want to do a bunch get into the multiple brigades and regiments and divisions. So i thought i will organize a i will come up with three reasons the battle of turned out champion turned out the way we did. Minister. A we talked about that last night and he was a minister and joke baptist ministers in mississippi you can always sermon because it three points and a poem. Hat is the baptist preachers sermon. I will come up with three points battle of champion come out but i couldnt up with three reasons. Surely it has to do with terrain. Convinced the battle of shiloh hinges on terrain. Ridge and that is maybe a little bit of proving the negative but you would think confederates would have the high ground and the federals hill and er champion errain is really not the deciding factor at Champion Hill. So maybe it was numbers. Superior numbers. Maybe at nashville or some of other battles. But when you break it down, balls he numbers like bluff were pretty even. To 30,000 on each side. Numbers. Not actual maybe it was the superiority of he individual soldiers but i dont think anybody with argue the confederate soldier was better than the average union vice srversa. O where do i get the three points. I dont have three points to my sermon. I only have one point. The Champion Hill belt turned out the way battle mainly because of listen so i to examine a little bit in the time we have left today the at the battle of Champion Hill. We wont get into the we put up y but battlefield map of Champion Hill nd i will refer to that a little bit. I think it is critical in terms of leadership, leadership is critical what politics or Little League baseball or it is. Or whatever leadership is critical. Napoleon andted to who knows who else said it that e said he would rather have a arm of rabbits commanded by a an army of lions led by a rabbit. Lions. See who the we will compare the listen. We start with federals. What is the importance thing is to look both ways, up and down command. Of historians talk about leadership generals. Ly civil war you have to get along with the uys below you or there will be tension but you have to get along with the people above you. Youe are problems there and w