Compiled by Jim Hachtel, President
Gen. William T. Sherman Memorial Civil War Roundtable
May 19, 1863 - Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton orders Congressman Clement L. Vallandigham (D-Ohio) released and deported to the Confederate lines. The arrest and detention of the Congressman caused some negative sentiment in the North.
May 19, 1863 - General Sherman attacks the northern fringes of the Confederate defense at Vicksburg with desperate fighting and heavy losses. At a position known as Stockade Redan, the Union soldiers are flung back while similar losses were experienced by McClernand and McPherson at other positions on the city perimeter. General Grant suspends action.
May 19, 1863 - Army and navy siege guns begin a continuous bombardment of Vicksburg that lasts seven weeks.
May 21, 1863 - Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston directs General Franklin Gardner to abandon Port Hudson, Louisiana and come to the aid of Vicksburg. Gardner ignores the order and remains securely behind his four and one half miles of earthworks and natural defenses on a sharp bend in the Mississippi River. General Nathaniel P. Banks and his 30,000 Federal troops surround Gardner's garrison the next day.
May 21, 1863 - Yazoo City and the boat yard, machine shop, and tool storage buildings are destroyed and then abandoned by Confederate forces. Commander John Grimes leaves Haynes's Bluff and steams to Yazoo City and shells the Navy yard, destroying three ships under construction.
May 22, 1863 - President Jefferson Davis directs General Braxton Bragg to assist at Vicksburg, if possible. Bragg is in Tennessee and does not respond.
May 22, 1863 - The Bureau of Colored Troops is established by the U.S. War Department. The goal is to coordinate the recruitment of African Americans from all states and regions.
May 22- 1863 - General Grant launches a three-mile wide frontal assault on Vicksburg's defensive lines. Sherman's XV Corps and McPherson's XVII Corps attack simultaneously, trying to overpower the defenders. Steep and narrow ravines, felled trees, and strong breastworks cause heavy Union losses, (3,199 Union casualties of 45,000 engaged) and Grant resigns himself to the siege operation he wished to avoid. The USS Benton, Carondelet, Mound City, and Tuscumbia resume their bombardment of Vicksburg.
May 23, 1863 - Confederate Secretary of War John A. Seddon suggests to President Davis that an alternative operation be planned to take pressure off Vicksburg. He specifically suggests General Grant's supply base at Helena, Arkansas be considered.
May 23, 1863 - General Nathaniel Banks continues to tighten his hold on Port Hudson in preparation for a general assault. Banks has 30,000 soldiers; General Gardner has about 7,000.
May 24, 1863 - Staff promotions in the Confederate Army include Ambrose P. Hill appointed lieutenant general, CSA and Henry Heth appointed major general, CSA.
May 24, 1863 - Federal gunboats of the Yazoo River expedition move up the adjacent Sunflower River and destroy grain along the banks.
May 25, 1863 - Peace Democrat Clement Vallandigham is released from prison and escorted to Murfreesboro, Tennessee for deportation through the lines.
May 25, 1863 - An attempt to tunnel under the Vicksburg defensive lines and detonate 2,200 pounds of powder fails to penetrate the defenses as additional enemy lines are behind the point of detonation.
May 25, 1863 - The CSS Alabama claims another Union ship. The Gildersleeve is captured and burned near Bahia, Brazil.
