Grant's Canal: The Union's Attempt to Bypass Vicksburg - Softcover

By May 1862, only Vicksburg and a Confederate fleet at Memphis stood in the way of Union domination of the Mississippi River. The Confederate fleet and Memphis fell in early June, leaving Vicksburg as the only Confederate control point on the river and the only connection to supplies from the West.
For six weeks David Glasgow Farragut's naval forces could not force Vicksburg to surrender. Realizing that it could not be taken from the river, the Union decided to move the river away from Vicksburg. This was the start of two poorly planned and poorly supplied unprecedented engineering efforts to divert the course of the river. The failure of the second effort under Grant resulted in an extensive siege. Vicksburg finally surrendered after 14 months from the time Farragut first called on her to surrender. Ironically, the cutoff could have succeeded with proper planning and tools. This work describes the circumstances and results of the Federal attempt to divert the river.