Tour Stop #4 - Ransom's Gun Path

Ransom's Gun Path had both the ingenuity of artillerists and the skill of Native American soldiers.

NPS

Quick Facts

Location:

Vicksburg, Mississippi

From this area, artillerists of Battery F, 2^nd Illinois Artillery Regiment dismantled and, with the assistance of infantrymen from Brig. General Thomas E. G. Ransom’s brigade, dragged two 12-pounder cannon over rugged terrain and across a bayou to a position within 100 yards of the Confederate line. There the guns were reassembled and placed in action. 

One Union regiment located here was the 17th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry which had Menominee Indians serving in its ranks. Extremely adept as skirmishers, these Native Americans acted as sharpshooters by camouflaging themselves with brush and waiting for Confederates to expose themselves. 

• Tour Stop #4 - Ransom's Gun Path

  
  

  This track discusses the location of General Thomas E.G. Ransom's approach trench that was supported by Captain John Wesley Powell's Illinois artillerymen.

  Date created:

  12/31/2021

  Audio Transcript

  On June 15th, Union soldiers under the command of General Thomas E. G. Ransom began digging approach trenches toward rifle pits manned by the 37th Mississippi Infantry, some 200 yards away.

  In order to better protect his men, General Ransom directed Captain John Wesley Powell of the 2nd Illinois Light Artillery to place an artillery battery a mere 100 yards from the Confederate line.

  Although Powell had already lost an arm in the battle of Shiloh, he was up to the task. Powell had his men disassemble two cannon and haul them by hand into position where they were reassembled.

  The guns pounded the Mississippians at point blank range and effectively kept the riflemen’s heads down while the Union slowly constructed the approach trenches in preparation for a charge that would never be ordered.

  In 1869, after the Civil War, Powell became famous for leading a successful expedition of nine men in four boats down Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.

  In 1881 he became director of the U.S. Geological Survey, and later director of the Bureau of Ethnology at the Smithsonian Institution.