They were among the crews that manned the gunboats in the fight for Vicksburg. By its end, around 15 percent of the navy, over 18,000 sailors, were African American. The Union Navy was integrated from the outset of the Civil War. At Milliken’s Bend near Vicksburg, two regiments of black soldiers, supported by gunboats, halted a Confederate advance. Many distinguished themselves in battle, while others had to shovel horse manure or dig entrenchments. They received three-quarters pay initially and mostly served under white officers. In 1863, the Union began recruiting free blacks, and eventually some 180,000 served. But as the war progressed and casualties mounted, so did the need for more troops. On July 4, 1863, Vicksburg surrendered.Īt the outset of the war, the Union would not recruit African Americans, although escaped slaves, or contrabands, served in some units. For seven weeks, Union gunboats and land-based artillery bombarded the town and its defenses, armies clashed, and trapped residents huddled in caves and dirt bunkers. Finally, in the summer of 1863, he resorted to a siege. Grant tried different approaches to take the city. But they repeatedly failed to dislodge Confederate forces from their stronghold at Vicksburg, Mississippi.įor months, General Ulysses S. During the first two years of the war, the Union Army and Navy secured Tennessee and won control of the upper and lower Mississippi River.
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