Battle at Champion's Hill Decisive for Union

After three months of frustration, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in May 1863 succeeded in getting his army onto the east bank of the Mississippi River in the rear of the fortress city of Vicksburg. In a lightning campaign Grant's army defeated Confederate detachments at Port Gibson on May 1, Raymond on May 12, and Jackson on May 14, neutralizing the Mississippi capital as a Confederate base for the relief of Vicksburg. Then he turned toward Vicksburg itself. In his path was the main field army of Confederate department commander Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton. Pemberton had more men within his command than Grant had in his army, but so thoroughly had Grant outwitted the Confederate that at every clash thus far in the campaign, the Federals had enjoyed the advantage of overwhelming numbers. Now Pemberton, uncertain and confused, halted with 23,000 men at the junction of the Jackson, Middle, and Raymond roads, a few miles east of Edward's Station, Mississippi, and tried to decide what to do next. Just behind him was Baker's Creek, flooded from recent rains that had washed out the Raymond Road bridge and left only a single usable bridge on the Jackson Road. Unknown to Pemberton, Grant was marching toward him on all three roads with the 33,000 men of Maj. Gen. James McPherson's XVII Corps and Maj. Gen. John McClernand's XIII Corps. Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's XV Corps brought up the rear after completing the destruction of Confederate military and industrial assets in Jackson.