Battle of Jackson
The Battle of Jackson was fought on May 14, 1863, outside Jackson, Mississippi, during the Vicksburg campaign of the American Civil War. As part of a campaign to capture the strategic Mississippi River town of Vicksburg, Mississippi, Major General Ulysses S. Grant of the Union Army began moving his force east across the river on April 30, 1863. This beachhead was protected by a victory at the Battle of Port Gibson on May 1. Moving inland, Grant intended to wheel his army north to strike the railroad between Vicksburg and the Mississippi capital of Jackson. On May 12, the Union XVII Corps of Major General James B. McPherson defeated Confederate troops commanded by Brigadier General John Gregg at the Battle of Raymond. This alerted Grant to the presence of a potentially dangerous Confederate force at Jackson, leading him to change his plans and swing towards Jackson with McPherson's corps and Major General William T. Sherman's XV Corps.
General Joseph E. Johnston was ordered to take command of the growing Confederate force at Jackson, but after arriving at the city quickly decided that it could not be held. Johnston's decision to abandon Jackson has since been criticized by historians. With McPherson's corps approaching Jackson from the northwest and Sherman's from the southwest, Gregg was tasked with fighting a delaying action on May 14 while the Confederates evacuated supplies from the city. Gregg, at first unaware of the approach of Sherman's corps, positioned his troops to block McPherson's advance. Once Sherman's presence became known, Gregg dispatched a cobbled-together force commanded by Colonel Albert P. Thompson to delay Sherman. The Union advances were hampered by rain and muddy roads. Thompson's force initially took a position behind the sole local crossing of Lynch Creek, but withdrew due to heavy Union artillery fire. After the rain ceased, McPherson's troops drove the Confederates back into the line of fortifications surrounding Jackson.
By around 2:00 pm, Gregg was informed that the Confederate wagon train had left Jackson, and he withdrew his forces from the city. Sherman's soldiers captured several Mississippi State Troops and armed civilians who were manning a line of cannons to mask the Confederate withdrawal. Union troops entered Jackson, leading to chaotic destruction and pillaging, although some of the destruction was the work of local civilians and fires set by the retreating Confederates. McPherson's corps moved west on May 15 in support of Major General John A. McClernand's XIII Corps, while Sherman's men remained at the city to complete the destruction of infrastructure and manufacturing facilities, particularly the railroads. The Confederate commander at Vicksburg, Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton, received orders from Johnston regarding cooperation, despite Johnston moving his army away from Pemberton. Pemberton initially attempted to comply with Johnston's orders, but after a council of war decided to strike at what the Confederates believed to be Grant's supply line. Grant's army decisively defeated Pemberton at the Battle of Champion Hill on May 16; May 18 saw Union troops approaching the defenses of Vicksburg. After a siege, Vicksburg surrendered on July 4. Johnston, who had been reinforced for the purpose of assisting Vicksburg, reoccupied Jackson but failed to make a serious attempt to lift the siege. Johnston's army was driven from Jackson a second time in July, after the Jackson expedition.
Background
During the early days of the American Civil War, Winfield Scott, the General-in-Chief of the United States Army, proposed the Anaconda Plan for defeating the Confederacy, and it was informally adopted. Part of this plan involved taking control of the Mississippi River, which was a major transportation route that was economically vital for the states west of the Appalachians. Though much of the river was under Union control by the end of 1862, the city of Vicksburg, Mississippi, remained in Confederate hands. Vicksburg, which was a naturally strong defensive position, allowed the eastern portion of the Confederacy to retain communication with the Trans-Mississippi Department to the west and blocked Union movement downriver. The Union Navy unsuccessfully attempted to capture the city in mid-1862. An army attempt consisting of an overland expedition led by Major General Ulysses S. Grant failed in December 1862, as did a concurrent amphibious operation commanded by Major General William T. Sherman. In early 1863, Grant attempted to capture Vicksburg or open an alternate water route around the city through a series of operations that involved moving troops through the many bayous in the area or building canals.By late March, the various attempts to capture or bypass Vicksburg had failed, and Grant found himself considering three options. He could send his troops in a risky amphibious assault across the river against the city's defenses; he could withdraw his troops north to Memphis, Tennessee, and conduct another overland campaign against Vicksburg; or he could move his troops down the west bank of the Mississippi River, cross to the east side of the river and then operate against Vicksburg. The first option risked heavy casualties, and a withdrawal to Memphis in preparation for an overland campaign would impair morale on the home front. While there were geographic and logistical issues with the movement down the west bank of the Mississippi and subsequent crossing, Grant chose to begin that movement. In April, while Grant's troops marched downriver, several Union diversionary operations, especially Grierson's Raid, distracted Confederate regional commander John C. Pemberton.
With his troops having completed the march downriver, Grant wanted to cross at Grand Gulf, Mississippi, but on April 29, Union Navy ships failed to silence the Confederate batteries there in the Battle of Grand Gulf. Instead, he moved his troops further south and crossed at Bruinsburg on April 30 and May 1. Grant's beachhead was protected by a Union victory at the Battle of Port Gibson on May 1. To the north, the Confederates held a line running from Warrenton to the Big Black River. Rather than assault this line, Grant decided to move towards the northeast. This movement would cut the rail line which supplied Vicksburg between that city and the Mississippi state capital of Jackson. Grant intended for his troops to strike the railroad from Bolton to Edwards Station, destroy the tracks, and then move west towards Vicksburg. His army consisted of the XIII Corps commanded by Major General John A. McClernand, the XV Corps commanded by Sherman, and Major General James B. McPherson's XVII Corps; during the advance, the corps were aligned from left to right in that order. McPherson's and McClernand's corps began their movement on May 7; Sherman's troops had not crossed the river as early as Grant thought they had and did not begin the movement east until the following day. Pemberton considered abandoning the Confederate position at Port Hudson, Louisiana, and concentrating his troops against Grant, but the Confederate president Jefferson Davis ordered the defense of both Port Hudson and Vicksburg.
Prelude
Raymond and response
commanded all Confederate forces between the Mississippi River and the Appalachian Mountains. The two primary Confederate armies in Johnston's department were Pemberton's, which was known as the Army of Mississippi, and in Tennessee, the Army of Tennessee under General Braxton Bragg. Johnston thought the two armies, which were outnumbered by the forces the Union could deploy in the theater, should be consolidated, but Davis thought Pemberton and Bragg's forces should operate separately, and that Johnston should shuttle forces between the two as necessary. On May 9, the Confederate government ordered Johnston to Mississippi so that he could exercise personal command of the forces there. Johnston, who was in Tennessee, did not want to make the movement. He argued that Bragg's army needed direct supervision more than Pemberton's did, and that he was too unwell from the effects of old wounds for direct field service; there is disagreement among historians as to whether his claims about his physical health were genuine or an excuse not to make the movement. Johnston left Tennessee for Jackson on May 10.While Grant moved northeast on the east side of the Big Black River, Pemberton made sure his troops kept the crossing of the Big Black covered. The Confederates moved north on the west side of the Big Black as Grant's troops also moved north. On May 11, Pemberton decided that Grant was only feinting towards Jackson, and to secure the railroad bridge over the Big Black River, moved three of his five available divisions to Edwards Station. Confederate reinforcements were sent to the theater, and would concentrate at Jackson. Some came from Tennessee following Johnston. General Robert E. Lee opposed transferring any troops from his army, but troops were drawn from South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia, and sent towards Jackson. In an aggressive action, Pemberton moved the brigade of Brigadier General John Gregg from Jackson to an isolated position at Raymond, where Pemberton thought it could strike Grant's flank.
Gregg underestimated the size of the Union force opposing his brigade, and attacked McPherson's vanguard on May 12, bringing on the battle of Raymond. After a confused fight, the Confederates were driven from the field; Gregg's men returned to Jackson on May 13. From Grant's perspective, the fight at Raymond was unexpected. Further, Grant assumed that the Confederates would have had an accurate conception of the size of McPherson's force, and would only attack if they felt themselves strong enough to take it on. Raymond led Grant to change his plans. He had earlier sent orders to Sherman and McPherson to turn north towards the railroad, but realizing that the Confederate forces gathering at Jackson were a greater threat than he had previously believed, ordered his army to swing towards the Mississippi capital. Grant had a high opinion of Johnston's abilities as a commander, and was aware of reports that Johnston had been dispatched to Jackson. From Grant's perspective, Johnston's presence increased the risk of ignoring the Jackson buildup. As well, offensive action against Jackson if successful would allow for greater disruption to the Confederate rail and communication network than just damaging a short stretch of the railroad between Jackson and Vicksburg. McClernand's corps was to move west and guard against an attack by Pemberton, and Sherman's corps was to move to the right of McPherson's. This plan carried with it some risk, as McClernand was known to be facing the division of Confederate Brigadier General John S. Bowen, who had a reputation as an aggressive and capable commander, but Grant expected that Pemberton's caution would overrule Bowen's aggression at least until McClernand could successfully disengage.
To fulfill his orders, McClernand had to disengage from Pemberton's force, which outnumbered his corps, and form a line from Bolton to Raymond. Movements to accomplish this were made on May 13. McPherson had orders to move to Clinton and tear up the railroad there before moving against Jackson from the northwest; this movement was accomplished on the afternoon of May 13. The path of Sherman's corps approached Jackson from the southwest. There was about between Jackson and Raymond. McPherson's advance met no substantial opposition, but Sherman's troops fought a small skirmish with Confederate troops near the community of Mississippi Springs; Sherman's troops spent the night camped at Mississippi Springs and along the road to the west. One of Sherman's divisions, commanded by Major General Francis Preston Blair Jr., was not operating with the rest of Sherman's corps at this time.