May 14, 1863: Grant Takes Jackson, Mississippi

After crossing the Mississippi, Grant set about the process of isolating Vicksburg from the remainder of the Confederacy by seizing the capital of Mississippi, Jackson, defeating the Confederate forces there, and destroying the rail links with Vicksburg.  This would make it much more difficult for a Confederate force to attack his army once he put Vicksburg under siege.  It was a strategy that Johnston, who was in overall command of the theater of operations for the Confederacy lacked the resources to combat.  With 6,000 troops in Jackson, he decided to withdraw which he did on May 14th, after brief resistance. giving Grant a free hand to wreck the rail lines.

Johnston has been criticized for this decision since he could have quickly assembled a force of 15,000.  I think this criticism is misplaced.  Grant had sufficient numbers to keep Pemberton’s army isolated near Vicksburg, unable to cooperate with Johnston, while Grant could also bring up sufficient forces to pulverize Johnston if Johnston made a stand.  By retreating Johnston kept his forces intact and could hope that Grant would make a mistake that he could capitalize on.  Unfortunately for Johnston, Grant was on a roll with his performance for the remainder of the Vicksburg campaign being largely flawless, which we will see in future posts.