This Week in The Civil War, for week of Sunday, May 19: Union
assaults on Vicksburg, Miss. This week 150 years ago in the
Civil War, Ulysses Grant hurled his Union forces at heavily
fortified Vicksburg, Miss., in hopes of a swift conquest of the
Mississippi River city. Union artillery began the assault early
on May 19, 1863 before troopers stormed through a series of
Confederate obstacles of downed trees and other obstructions
toward the Confederate lines. But Southern fighters responded
with withering fire, driving back the federal forces with heavy
loss of life. Grant realized after his forces were repulsed that
his reconnaissance had been too hasty, and he ordered more
careful study of the terrain around Vicksburg before unleashing
another assault on May 22, 1863. This time Union artillery
pummeled the city's defenses for several hours before federal
infantrymen advanced toward the city. But again, Union forces
were pushed back with an estimated 3,000 lives lost. This would
mark the escalation of Grant's c