quote:
Sherman and Grant were lucky that John Pemberton was an idiot. Had he readied Vicksburg properly for an extended siege they might still be trying to break into the works there. Pemberton could have broken Grant's army against those works but instead they got starved out. Evacuate the civilians lay in the supplies and let Grant and Sherman attack and lose men. They couldn't stay there forever.

But Grant wasn’t going to run out of supplies at that point.

Even if Vicksburg had supplies for a year, they would be limited. If they could hold out, I wonder what the South’s plan would have been to rescue/save it?

Where would the rescue army come from, how long would it take, and what impact would trying to save Vicksburg have on the rest of the war going on?

Chickamauga and Chattanooga probably look vastly different or don’t happen at all.

You’re probably looking at another Shiloh level fight at some point somewhere near Vicksburg.

That delays Grant going east, if he ever ends up going east at all.

It’d be fun to see a civil war scholar play out a well supplied Vicksburg like you suggest.

This post was edited on 2/4/24 at 9:28 am

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Posted by antibarner

Member since Oct 2009

23782 posts

Posted on 2/5/24 at 11:25 am to Sus-Scrofa

quote:
Where would the rescue army come from, how long would it take, and what impact would trying to save Vicksburg have on the rest of the war going on?

I don't think George Meade. or anyone else, could have done what Grant and Sherman did in the East. With Vicksburg holding out, who knows how it all plays out.

Perhaps Lee could have dispatched Longstreet and his corps to the relief of Vicksburg. Joe Johnston had around 30,000 and with Longstreet probably would have had 50K plus.

That is no small force to have at your back while giving siege to around 25K in the Vicksburg works. A combined force of around 75000 to face and you deep in enemy territory.

James Longstreet had lobbied hard for just such a move. Lee was against it, not wanting to split his army and of course, having other plans. The other plans didn't work out, but what if they'd played it this way?

Another scenario...what if it had NOT been John Pemberton, but a more able commander in charge at Vicksburg? They knew this was coming, but instead of the First Corps, send James Longstreet to ready Vicksburg for the siege. The ANV is intact, and Vicksburg has someone that can hold it.

This post was edited on 2/5/24 at 11:38 am

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