Ulysses S. Grant

Another mine was consequently started which was exploded on the 1st of July, destroying an entire rebel redan, killing and wounding a considerable number of its occupants and leaving an immense chasm where it stood.

The first thing to do was to get the artillery in batteries where they would occupy commanding positions; then establish the camps, under cover from the fire of the enemy but as near up as possible; and then construct rifle-pits and…

With the navy holding the river, the investment of Vicksburg was complete.

Johnston was in my rear, only fifty miles away, with an army not much inferior in numbers to the one I had with me, and I knew he was being reinforced.

It resulted in securing more advanced positions for all our troops where they were fully covered from the fire of the enemy.

The enemy fled from the west bank of the river, burning the bridge behind him and leaving the men and guns on the east side to fall into our hands.

Can you not cut him off from it, and above all, should he be compelled to fall back for want of supplies, beat him.

Turn all your forces towards Bolton station, and make all dispatch in getting there.

I then had no fears for my communications, and if I moved quickly enough could turn upon Pemberton before he could attack me in the rear.

I decided at once to turn the whole column towards Jackson and capture that place without delay.

The move was eminently successful and, as we afterwards learned, created great confusion about Vicksburg and doubts about our real design.

My object was to compel Pemberton to keep as much force about Vicksburg as I could, until I could secure a good footing on high land east of the river.

The sight of the mangled and dying men which met my eye as I boarded the ship was sickening.

On one occasion, in talking about this to my staff officers, all of whom were civilians without any military education whatever, I said that I would give anything if I were commanding a brigade of cavalry in the Army of the Potomac and I…

I had no idea, myself, of ever having any large command, nor did I suppose that I was equal to one; but I had the vanity to think that as a cavalry officer I might succeed very well in the command of a brigade.

The hospital arrangements and medical attendance were so perfect, however, that the loss of life was much less than might have been expected.

From the first the most I hoped to accomplish was the passage of transports, to be used below Vicksburg, without exposure to the long line of batteries defending that city.

Friends in the North would have grown more and more discouraged, and enemies in the same section more and more insolent in their gibes and denunciation of the cause and those engaged in it.

Voluntary enlistments had ceased throughout the greater part of the North, and the draft had been resorted to to fill up our ranks.

Many strong Union men believed that the war must prove a failure.

It showed that we could have subsisted off the country for two months instead of two weeks without going beyond the limits designated.

I determined, therefore, to abandon my campaign into the interior with Columbus as a base, and returned to La Grange and Grand Junction destroying the road to my front and repairing the road to Memphis, making the Mississippi river the…

It was my intention, and so understood by Sherman and his command, that if the enemy should fall back I would follow him even to the gates of Vicksburg.

I hoped to hold Pemberton in my front while Sherman should get in his rear and into Vicksburg.

I doubted McClernand's fitness; and I had good reason to believe that in forestalling him I was by no means giving offence to those whose authority to command was above both him and me.