Champion Hill
Bakers Creek
Civil War Mississippi

American Civil War
May 16, 1863

Following the Union occupation of Jackson, Mississippi, both Confederate and Federal forces made plans for future operations. General Joseph E. Johnston retreated, with most of his army, up the Canton Road, but he ordered Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton, commanding about 23,000 men, to leave Edwards Station and attack the Federals at Clinton.
Pemberton and his generals felt that Johnston's plan was dangerous and decided instead to attack the Union supply trains moving from Grand Gulf to Raymond. On May 16, though, Pemberton received another order from Johnston repeating his former directions. Pemberton had already started after the supply trains and was on the Raymond-Edwards Road with his rear at the crossroads one-third mile south of the crest of Champion Hill. Thus, when he ordered a countermarch, his rear, including his many supply wagons, became the advance of his force.
On May 16, 1863, about 7:00 am, the Union forces engaged the Confederates and the Battle of Champion Hill began. Pemberton's force drew up into a defensive line along a crest of a ridge overlooking Jackson Creek. Pemberton was unaware that one Union column was moving along the Jackson Road against his unprotected left flank. For protection, Pemberton posted Brigadier General Stephen D. Lee's men atop Champion Hill where they could watch for the reported Union column moving to the crossroads.
Lee spotted the Union troops and they soon saw him. If this force was not stopped, it would cut the Rebels off from their Vicksburg base. Pemberton received warning of the Union movement and sent troops to his left flank. Union forces at the Champion House moved into action and emplaced artillery to begin firing.
When Grant arrived at Champion Hill, around 10:00 am, he ordered the attack to begin. By 11:30 am, Union forces had reached the Confederate main line and about 1:00 pm, they took the crest while the Rebels retired in disorder. The Federals swept forward, capturing the crossroads and closing the Jackson Road escape route. One of Pemberton's divisions (Bowen's) then counterattacked, pushing the Federals back beyond the Champion Hill crest before their surge came to a halt. Grant then counterattacked, committing forces that had just arrived from Clinton by way of Bolton.
Pemberton's men could not stand up to this assault, so he ordered his men from the field to the one escape route still open: the Raymond Road crossing of Bakers Creek. Brigadier General Lloyd Tilghman's brigade formed the rearguard, and they held at all costs, including the loss of Tilghman. In the late afternoon, Union troops seized the Bakers Creek Bridge, and by midnight, they occupied Edwards.
The Confederates were in full retreat towards Vicksburg. If the Union forces caught these Rebels, they would destroy them.
Result(s): Union victory
Location: Hinds County
Campaign: Grant's Operations against Vicksburg (1863) next battle in campaign previous battle in campaign
Date(s): May 16, 1863
Principal Commanders: Major General Ulysses S. Grant [US]; Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton [CS]
Forces Engaged: Army of the Tennessee (three corps) [US]; Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana [CS]

Estimated Casualties: 6,757 total (US 2,457; CS 4,300)

Champion Hill: Decisive Battle for Vicksburg
The Battle of Champion Hill was the decisive land engagement of the Vicksburg Campaign. The May 16, 1863, fighting took place just 20 miles east of the river city, where the advance of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Federal army attacked Gen. John C. Pemberton's hastily gathered Confederates

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This is the battle map drawn by Major Samuel H. Lockett, Chief Engineer of the Dept. of Miss. and East La., CSA. It is included in his report of engineering operations during the Vicksburg Campaign.

Grant's Lieutenants: From Chattanooga to Appomattox
This new volume assesses Union generalship during the final two years of the Civil War. Steven Woodworth, one of the war's premier historians, is joined by a team of scholars-- Grimsley, Marszalek, and Hess, among others--who critique Ulysses S. Grant's commanders

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American Civil War Book Titles
Vicksburg: The Campaign That Opened the Mississippi Confederate troops surrendered Vicksburg on July 4, 1863 a crucial port and rail depot for the South was lost	Unconditional Surrender: U. S. Grant and the Civil War This is the best juvenile biography on Ulysses S. Grant by a wide margin. Marrin has done an excellent job in introducing Grant to a young audience. I highly recommend it.	The Beleaguered City: The Vicksburg Campaign, December 1862-July 1863 Shelby Foote explains all engagements in and around Vicksburg. Every event is descriptively written covering naval strategies along the Mississippi, Yazoo and other rivers which were of importance to naval affairs of each opposing side	The Darkest Days of the War: The Battles of Iuka and Corinth The strategic implications of the battles of Iuka and Corinth, exploring their impact on the fate of the Northern Mississippi Campaign, the fall of Vicksburg and by extension, the fate of the Confederacy.
Grant Wins the War Decision at Vicksburg A brilliantly constructed new account,A penetrating analysis of Grant's strategies and actions leading to the Union victory at Vicksburg. Approaching these epic events from a unique and well-rounded perspective, and based on careful research	Guide to the Vicksburg Campaign U.S. Army War College Guides to Civil War Battles Army War College Examines an entire campaign, looking at many interlinked battles and joint Army-Navy operations as they played out over seven months and thousands of square miles	Ninety-Eight Days: A Geographer's View of the Vicksburg Campaign The geology of the Mississippi river, and how the landcape along the river determined the course of events and logistical realities that the armies had to contend with, such as the pounds per square inch of a cassion wheel as it contacts the earth	Mississippi's Civil War: A Narrative History A great treatment of wartime Mississippi that includes a lot of social and political material in addition to information on battles. It also includes a lot of great stories, from the dramatic resignation of Jefferson Davis from the U.S. Senate in 1861 to Ulysses S. Grant's drinking habits during the siege of Vicksburg
The Free State of Jones: Mississippi's Longest Civil War The southeastern Mississippi county that was home to a Unionist stronghold during the Civil War and home to a large and complex mixed-race community in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries	Campaign for Corinth: Blood in Mississippi In 1862 Corinth, was transformed into one of the South's most strategic strongholds. At Corinth, the Mobile and Ohio Railroad crossed the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, creating a crucial nexus for the transport of supplies, material, and men throughout the western Confederacy	The 16th Mississippi Infantry: Civil War Letters and Reminiscences Who better to tell an infrantry man's story then themselves. The hardships of Marches, Poor food and bitter fighting.	A Hard Trip: A History of the 15th Mississippi Infantry, CSA The reality of the moment in 1860-61 Mississippi. The thoughts of the men who formed the 15th Mississippi are front and center with good background about the communities the men came from and the reasons they joined the army.

Civil War History Documentary DVD Movie Titles
Civil War Combat: America's Bloodiest Battles The violent mayhem of the hornet's nest at Shiloh, the valiant charge on the sunken road at Antietam, the carnage in the wheat field at Gettysburg, and the brutal fighting at Cold Harbor	Civil War Journal - The Conflict Begins These four programs from the History Channel series Civil War Journal cover critical aspects of the early days of the war.	Civil War Journal Collector's Edition 4-DVD Set Made exclusively for Books Are Fun. Discs include: · Stonewall Jackson · Sherman and the March to the Sea · West Point Classmates-Civil War Enemies · Robert E. Lee · Battle of 1st Bull Run · The 54th Massachusetts · John Brown s War · Destiny at Fort Sumter	Gettysburg / Gods and Generals The tide of the war changes during three fierce days of combat at Gettysburg [Disc 1] the gripping saga of the tactics command errors and sacrifices behind the bloodiest battle ever fought on U.S. soil. Gods and Generals [Disc 2] reveals the spirited allegiances and fierce combat of earlier Civil War struggles
History Channel Presents The Civil War From Harper's Ferry, Fort Sumter, and First Bull Run to Shiloh, Antietam, and Gettysburg. The most legendary Civil War battles in brilliant detail. A selection of the soldiers and legendary leaders.	The Civil War - A Film by Ken Burns Here is the saga of celebrated generals and ordinary soldiers, a heroic and transcendent president and a country that had to divide itself in two in order to become one	The Blue and the Gray The Complete Miniseries The Civil War proved a backdrop for this 1982 miniseries. Complete and uncut three disc set. Two families divided by the War Between the States. A Southerner caught when he becomes a war correspondent for the Northern newspaper. He finds himself where history's in the making from the Battle of Bull Run to Abraham Lincoln's assassination	Blue Vs. Gray - Killing Fields Relive the most vicious fighting of the Civil War, in which General Ulysses S. Grant forcibly reversed the tide of the conflict by paying with the blood of thousands. It was a desperate time for the Union

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Champion Hill Bakers Creek Civil War Mississippi

American Civil War May 16, 1863

Champion Hill
Bakers Creek
Civil War Mississippi

American Civil War
May 16, 1863