Lessons Learned at Chickasaw Bayou

A view of the bluffs that were the site of the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou, as seen from the Union’s position.

From p. 486 of the 1887 book 'Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, being for the most part contributions by Union and Confederate officers, based upon “the Century War Series"', volume 3.

Recipient: Mississippi Department of Archives and History

Amount: $ 43,328.50
Acres: 0.16

All eyes were on Vicksburg, Mississippi in the winter of 1862, as the town was a Confederate stronghold, and its capture essential to the Union’s overall strategy to gain control of the Mississippi River and split the Confederacy in two. To achieve that goal, on December 26, 1862, Major General William T. Sherman led an amphibious expedition against the city, landing Union troops along the banks of the Yazoo River near Chickasaw Bayou, just north of Vicksburg. Upon landing, his troops met a staunch Confederate defense on the bluffs of Walnut Hills which included entrenched infantry and artillery. Three days later, with no success in breaking through the Confederate fortifications, the Union army withdrew.

Chickasaw Bayou was the first direct attack made in the Vicksburg campaign. Though the Union withdrawal ended the battle, the defeat laid the groundwork for Sherman’s future strategies for attacking well-fortified Confederate positions. These lessons would not only contribute to the ultimate capture of Vicksburg on July 4, 1863, but also future Union victories at Chattanooga and Kennesaw Mountain.

Located along the historic River Road, the property preserved today with the assistance of a Battlefield Land Acquisition Grant awarded to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and their preservation partner the American Battlefield Trust, adds to the 12 acres already under conservation easements in this small portion of Chickasaw Bayou battlefield.

Battlefield Land Acquisition Grants from the NPS American Battlefield Protection Program empower preservation partners nationwide to acquire and preserve threatened Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and Civil War battlefields. In addition, the program administers three other grants: Preservation Planning Grants, which are open to all sites of armed conflict on American soil, the newly authorized Battlefield Restoration and Battlefield Interpretation Grant programs. This financial assistance generates community-driven stewardship of historic resources at the state, tribal and local levels.