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TOUR STOP 9
Fort Hill
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| Fort Hill was the anchor of the left flank of the rear
Confederate defense line. The fort's position was so strong that the Union Army did not
even attempt an attack when the assaults of May
19th and 22nd were carried out. Fort Hill
overlooked the Mississippi River. The water battery, located on the bank beneath the fort,
commanded the bend in the river above the city. |
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During the siege, a Union ironclad,
U.S.S.
Cincinnati, was sunk by the combined fire of the water battery and other batteries. The
Cincinnati was eventually raised and returned to service. From Fort Hill you can observe the area where
Admiral David
Dixon Porter's fleet began its run past the Vicksburg batteries. |
| Grant required naval
assistance to carry out his plan to capture Vicksburg. Porter assembled a fleet of seven
ironclad gunboats, a ram and three transports to attempt to pass the city. The transports
were protected by bales of cotton and hay while the ironclads had coal barges lashed to
their sides. The transports would be used to transfer the Union infantry from the West
bank to the East bank of the Mississippi River. |
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| The gunboats would provide protection for the vulnerable
transports. On the night of April 16, the fleet came down the Mississippi River in single
file hugging the Western shore in an effort to sneak by without being detected. However,
Confederate lookouts spotted the boats and sounded the alarm. Quickly, Southern batteries
went into action. To aid the confederate gunners, tar barrels were lit along the city's
river bank and houses in the village of De Soto across the river were set on fire. With
that assistance the Confederate artillery fire pounded the Union ships, but despite
numerous hits only one transport was sunk. The remainder of the fleet met Grant's infantry
near Hard Times, Louisiana, as planned. |
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Last update: Friday, November 05, 1999
http://www.nps.gov/vick/ts_9/ts_9.htm
Editor: G. Zeman |
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