Battle Lines
The history is well presented in the Park with red and blue signs depicting Confederate or Union information and dispositions. LTGEN John Pemberton commanded the 35,000 well-prepared defenders. MAJGEN Ulysses Grant led the 45,000 attackers, whose numbers swelled to 77,000 by the end of the siege. After initial successes in several disparate battles, Grant's frontal attacks on the Vicksburg defences in May '63 were convincingly repulsed. Realising the defences were too strong, Grant changed strategy and besieged the city. Hunger, sickness and low ammunition compelled Pemberton to surrender on 4 July, after a bloody and brutal siege.
Britain's American colonies broke with the mother country in 1776 and were recognized as the new nation of the United States of America following the Treaty of Paris in 1783. During the 19th and 20th centuries, 37 new states were added to the origina... ... read more 
