Before the American Civil War the Mississippi river had been the most important commercial artery in the United States, the main route for the trade of the mid-west (then known as the north-west), and for much of the cotton trade. The outbreak of the civil war blocked the Mississippi to northern trade. Opening the river and restoring that trade became one of the main Union objectives during the first half of the war (despite the fact that the new railroads had already replaced the Mississippi as the most important trade route from the north west). Union control of the Mississippi would also serve to cut the Confederacy in half, isolated Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas, as well as cutting the land route to Mexico, an important route for bypassing the Union blockade of the south.
Initial progress had been good. The capture of New Orleans in April 1862 had blocked the Mississippi to southern trade, while the loss of Fort No. 10 threatened Southern control of the rest of the river. By the end of 1862 the only stretch of the river blocked to North ships ran between Vicksburg, Mississippi and Port Hudson, Louisiana. Even that stretch of water was not safe for southern ships, as Union warships from the south were able to slip past the guns of Port Hudson.
Nevertheless, Vicksburg remained a potent barrier on the river. Its guns controlled the river, apparently preventing Union ships getting south of the city. On land the city was protected by geography. The Mississippi had created a wide, wet, swampy valley, but with very clear edges, where higher, drier ground met the swamp. Vicksburg was situated at a point where the Mississippi River touched the eastern edge of its flood plain, with vast swamps to the north guarded by a series of ‘bluffs' (the steep sides of the valley). The only dry ground was to the south of the city.
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