Vicksburg Campaign and Siege: December 1862-July 1863 :
      Grand Gulf, Mississippi (MS004) , Claiborne County, April 29, 1863

By the spring of 1863 US General Grant had been unsuccessful in his efforts to capture Vicksburg and take control of the Mississippi River. One of these efforts involved digging a canal across De Soto Point, opposite the town and west of the river. In March he considered three alternatives: first, attack Vicksburg from across the river; second, move north to Memphis and proceed south by land; third, head south through Louisiana, cross the river and either attack Vicksburg from the south or continue downriver to attack Port Hudson. Grant concluded that the first was too costly to his army and the second too costly to him—it might be viewed in Washington as a retreat, and he could lose his command. On March 29 he ordered US General McClernand to march south to New Carthage, and US Major General James B. McPherson to follow by boat from Lake Providence to Milliken's Bend and then along McClernand's route.

Grant created several diversions to confuse the Confederates. He ordered US Major General Frederick Steele's division to destroy the Confederate food supplies along Deer Creek while US General Sherman threatened Snyder's Bluff. He also launched US Colonel Benjamin H. Grierson on a brilliant raid from La Grange, Tennessee, through Mississippi. Grierson tore up miles of railroads and diverted CS General Pemberton's cavalry and an infantry division sent to pursue him on his sixteen-day, 475-mile ride through enemy territory. US Colonel Abel D. Streight's raid across northern Alabama, in which he attempted to destroy the Confederate supply line, the Western & Atlantic Railroad, diverted CS General Forrest from Grierson.

On the nights of April 16 and 22, USN Admiral Porter's fleet of eight gunboats and nine transports ran the gauntlet past Vicksburg, losing two of the transports. The fleet continued downriver to prepare to ferry the corps of McPherson and McClernand across the river. By the end of the month Grant was ready. At 8:00 a.m. on April 29 Porter's seven ironclads attacked CS Brigadier General John S. Bowen's fortifications and batteries at Grand Gulf, thirty miles south of Vicksburg. This action was intended to silence the Confederate guns and cover the disembarkation of McClernand's XIII Corps waiting aboard steamboats and invasion barges. The ironclads moved within one hundred yards of the Confederate guns during the five-and-one-half-hour battle and silenced the lower batteries at Fort Wade but were unable to knock out the upper battery, Fort Cobun, because of its elevation. The Tuscumbia was put out of action, and the fleet withdrew. Porter declared that "Grand Gulf is the strongest place on the Mississippi." The ironclads returned at dusk to engage the Confederate guns while the steamboats and barges ran the gauntlet.

Confederate strength prevented Grant from crossing at Grand Gulf but did not stop him. Grant ordered his forces to continue to march south. In one of America's largest amphibious operations prior to World War II, the 24,000 men boarded transports, barges, and gunboats at Disharoon's Plantation and landed on the Mississippi side of the river at Bruinsburg Landing, guided by a contraband. The Confederates won at Grand Gulf but succeeded only in making Grant slightly alter his offensive against Vicksburg.

Estimated Casualties: 80 US, unknown CS

Grand Gulf Military Monument Park, on the Mississippi River about eight miles northwest of Port Gibson, west of Route 61, includes 150 acres of the historic battlefield.