Smith, Timothy B. Bayou Battles for Vicksburg

The Swamp and River Expeditions, January 1-April 30, 1863

In "Bayou Battles for Vicksburg," Timothy B. Smith offers the first comprehensive examination of Ulysses S. Grant's wintry attempts to capture the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg, Mississippi, by water. The accepted strategy up to this point in the war was based on the principles of Swiss theorist Antoine-Henri Jomini, whose works were taught at West Point, where commanders on both sides of the conflict had been trained. Jomini, however, emphasised secure supply lines and a slow, steady, unified approach against a target like Vicksburg and never had much to say about creeks, rivers and coves in a subtropical swampland. Grant overturned conventional wisdom with a bold and ultimately successful plan, avoiding a direct approach and instead dividing his forces to achieve multiple objectives and confuse the enemy by cutting tributaries, flooding entire sections of watersheds, and bypassing forts by digging channels far around them. "Bayou Battles for Vicksburg" details each of the Union attempts to reach higher ground east of the Mississippi River and includes new research on the expeditions at Yazoo Pass and Steele's Bayou, Grant's Canal, and the efforts around Lake Providence. Smith weaves several concurrent Union initiatives into a chronological narrative that provides great detail about the Union's successful final attempt to reach good ground east of the Mississippi.