VICKSBURG - Chapter Five

By the first of November the “...beaten and demoralized...” rebel Army of Mississippi was still struggling  to recover from it's failure to retake the rail crossroads of Corinth. Over two bloody days - 3 and 4 October, 1862 -  the rebels had lost 20% of their man power.  And this had not been Major General Earl Van Dorn's first fiasco.

A year earlier the Mississippi born short, brash, serial sex offender Major General Earl Van Dorn (above) had been promoted to commander of the Army of  the Trans-Mississippi, to end the squabbling between Missouri militia generals Sterling Price and Benjamin McCullough. But Van Doren had visions of grandeur and hoped to recapture the entire state of Missouri. He boasted to his wife, "I must have St. Louis..."

At the battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas on 7 March of 1862 ,Van Dorn not only caught the Yankees off guard with a forced march, he outnumbered them.  However illness confined him to an ambulance, the weather turned vile, McCullough was killed and after a second day of vicious fighting - 8 March -  (above), his exhausted men were forced to retreat and Missouri was lost forever.  Van Dorn was transferred and given command of the Army of Mississippi.

On 5 August, 1862, the attack of a force led by rebel General John C. Breckenridge, failed to recapture the Louisiana capital of Baton Rouge, increasing the pressure on Van Dorn to do something to reverse the situation along the Big River. 

And then, on 3 October,  General  Van Doren surprised the Federal general Rosecrans at the Second Battle of Corinth, Mississippi. But again the Yankees managed to hold their units together and survived the initial attack.

Come mid-day of 4 October (above) the Yankees counter attacked and regained all the ground they had lost, and Van Dorn was defeated in yet another 2 day battle. "I was not defeated", Van Doren insisted, "but only failed in my intentions".
Jefferson Finis Davis, 54 year old President of the Confederacy, was not anxious to replace the pugnacious serial adulterer.  He was, after all a general who fought, and a fellow Magnolia State resident. But Van Doren's subordinate officers were grumbling and eventually Davis decided he had no choice.  The problem was, who was to replace Van Dorn?  Davis did not consider any of his 

grumbling subordinates, as that would have been encouraging insubordination

The obvious choice was 38 year old Major General Thomas Johnathan Jackson (above), who had earned his nickname because his division stood "like a stonewall" blocking Federal advance at the First Battle of the Bull Run. But it was very unlikely the commander of the Army of Northern Virginia,  General Robert E. Lee, would release his "good right hand".  

Nor did it seem likely Davis could pry away 42 year old General James Longstreet, whom Lee called "My old war horse".  Since a mistake in Virginia could lead to lead to the immediate loss of the war, Davis dare not fiddle with the most successful army in the Confederacy.

The first hero of First Bull Run, 44 year old General Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard was available, but he never attempted to hide his disdain for Jefferson Davis, who returned those feelings. 

In fact the only Rebel general Davis disliked more than Beauregard was 55 year old General Joseph (Old Joe) Eggleston Johnston.  He had commanded the Confederate army during the Peninsula Campaign, and had saved Richmond by his attack at the Battle of Seven Pines. But at that battle Johnston had been severely wounded in the chest and neck, and while he was hospitalized, Davis had eagerly handed his army over to Robert E. Lee.  Davis felt these events confirmed his distrust of Johnston,  and the more people suggested Johnston as the new commander in Mississippi,  the more Davis despised the man. But that left only one officer of sufficient rank  who could take command in Mississippi. 

He was a 48 year old Quaker born and raised in Philadelphia, John Clifford Pemberton (above), who had received his appointment to West Point with the assistance of President Andrew Jackson, graduating in 1837 in the middle of his class.

After his  "..Gallant Conduct" at the Battle of Monterrey (above) in the Mexican War Pemberton had received a brevet (temporary) promotion to captain, and a second promotion to brevet Major after the battle of Molino de Rey. John Pemberton was no coward, but he learned that he preferred staff work to leading men in battle. 

Returning home John married Martha O. (Patty) Thompson (above), of Norfolk, Virginia. Her father, William Thompson, had made a fortune in shipping, trading with the Dutch West Indies,  Ireland and Nova Scotia.  As successful southerners the Thompsons owned slaves, and as a wedding present the new couple received a human slave who served as their cook. By the time the war broke out they had three children, and when Pemberton had hesitated to pledge  his allegiance to the south, Patty had written him,  “My darling husband, why are you not with us? Jefferson Davis has a position for you.”

John's own family urged him to remain in the U.S. Army - his two younger brothers wore blue, and his elder brother Israel Pemberton, who was a successful civil engineer for railroads, begged John  not to betray his nation  - but on 29 April, 1861 John Pemberton resigned his commission and in January of 1862  became a Major General in Command of the Department of South Carolina (above) and Georgia. 

It was in that post that Pemberton had revealed his abrasive personality. Charleston  business leaders sought assurances he would defend the city, and it's central patriotic symbol, the battered and broken remains of Fort Sumter, where the war had begun. Instead of reassuring the nervous civilians Pemberton had explained that if forced to chose between saving the remains of the fort and the city, or his army, Pemberton would protect his men.

The resulting uproar meant Davis was pressured to remove Pemberton.  So Beauregard was sent to South Carolina, and on 10 October, 1862,  General John Clifford Pemberton was promoted over Van Dorn.  The new commander's orders were concise. He was, to "... consider the successful defense of (Mississippi)... as the first and chief object of your command." Pemberton arrived at his new headquarters in Jackson, Mississippi, on Tuesday, 14 October 1862.

Under Pemberton the army was fed more regularly. Blankets magically appeared.  Ammunition began to arrive where it was needed, as did replacements. Medical care even improved slightly.  Said a Jackson newspaper, "No officer ever devoted himself with greater assiduity to his duties. Late and early he is at his office, laboring incessantly.” However, the army never saw Pemberton, since he remained in Jackson while Van Dorn stayed with the men.

The problem was, even though bolstered by reinforcements The Army of Mississippi now contained only some 24,000 men, dug in along a defensive line south of the Tallahatchie River,  centered around the village of  Abbeville. 

Van Dorn's forces were built around the four Mississippi and Alabama brigades of the cantankerous Major General William Wing Loring's (above) division... 

...and the orphaned Missouri brigades and Louisiana troops of the equally troublesome politician and Major General Sterling Price's division. Just getting these two men to coordinate their retreat was a difficult task.  So when  2,000 Federal infantry and 1,500 cavalry appeared near Granada, Mississippi, burning bridges and railroad equipment behind the rebel lines, Pemberton issued orders , on 2 December, for the army to fall back to new entrenchments south of the Yalobusha River, 60 miles closer to Jackson. 

It was the logical military decision, but a lousy way to introduce a new commander to the army. And then, early in December, Lieutenant Colonel John Summerfield Griffiths, came up with suggestion how to turn the tactical situation around. 

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