soon after, union troops entered jackson and had a celebration in the bowman house, hosted by grant, who had been traveling with sherman's corps. they then burned part of the town and cut the railroad connections with vicksburg. johnston's evacuation of jackson was premature because he could, by late on may 14, have had 11,000 troops at his disposal and by the morning of may 15, another 4,000. the fall of the former mississippi state capital was a blow to confederate morale.