Winston Groom, novelist and author of Forrest Gump, has also written a number of well received histories, including Vicksburg, 1863. This narrative history of the Civil War’s most strategically important campaign describes the bloody two-year grind that started when Ulysses S. Grant began taking a series of Confederate strongholds in 1861, climaxing with the siege of Vicksburg two years later. For Grant and the Union it was a crucial success that captured the Mississippi River, divided the South in half, and set the stage for eventual victory.
Groom talks with Dr. Edgar about the siege of Vicksburg in a presentation that is part of the series “Conversations on the Civil War, 1863,” held at USC, Columbia, in January and February, 2013. The series was sponsored by the USC College of Arts and Sciences.
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In the first segment on the Vicksburg campaign, Winston Groom sets the stage on events leading up to this crucial battle. He explains why Vicksburg is valuable to the Confederacy, and why the Union...
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Winston Groom discusses the mishaps General Ulysses S. Grant and his amphibious force faced with their attempts to take Vicksburg. Grant applied trial and error with different methods of trying to...
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In this segment, Winston Groom talks about how Grant’s forces had to “live off the land,” since their supplies were taken months before. General Grant takes his forces to Jackson, Mississippi, where...
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Winston Groom details the lives of both Union and Confederate soldiers during the Siege of Vicksburg. Groom then discusses remedies soldiers on both sides used to combat starvation. Starvation ended...
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In this segment, Winston Groom analyzes Grant’s mindset during the Civil War, and then briefly compares Grant to the other Union generals cycled through the Civil War..
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News of the Confederate defeat at Vicksburg reaches the public, and Walter Edgar discusses peoples’ reactions.
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Winston Groom, novelist and author of Forrest Gump, has also written a number of well received histories, including Vicksburg, 1863. This narrative history of the Civil War’s most strategically...