Big Black River Bridge
Civil War Mississippi

American Civil War
May 17, 1863

Reeling from their defeat at Champion Hill, the Confederates reached Big Black River Bridge, the night of May 16-17. Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton ordered Brigadier General John S. Bowen, with three brigades, to man the fortifications on the east bank of the river and impede any Union pursuit.

Three divisions of Major General John A. McClernand's XIII Army Corps moved out from Edwards Station on the morning of the 17th. The corps encountered the Confederates behind breastworks and took cover as enemy artillery began firing. Union Brigadier General Michael K. Lawler formed his 2nd Brigade, Carr's Division, which surged out of a meander scar, across the front of the Confederate forces, and into the enemy's breastworks, held by Vaughn's East Tennessee Brigade.

Confused and panicked, the Rebels began to withdraw across the Big Black on two bridges: the railroad bridge and the steamboat dock moored athwart the river. As soon as they had crossed, the Confederates set fire to the bridges, preventing close Union pursuit. The fleeing Confederates who arrived in Vicksburg later that day were disorganized.

The Union forces captured approximately 1,800 troops at Big Black, a loss that the Confederates could ill-afford. This battle sealed Vicksburg's fate: the Confederate force was bottled up at Vicksburg.

Result(s): Union victory

Location: Hinds County and Warren County

Campaign: Grant's Operations against Vicksburg (1863) next battle in campaign    previous battle in campaign

Date(s): May 17, 1863

Principal Commanders: Major General John A. McClernand [US]; Brigadier General John S. Bowen [CS]

Forces Engaged: XIII Army Corps, Army of the Tennessee [US]; Bridgehead Defense Force (three brigades) [CS]

Estimated Casualties: 2,273 total (US 273; CS 2,000)


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

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 		Vicksburg Mississippi Campaign
Vicksburg Battle Map
Mississippi State Battle Map
State Battle Maps
American Civil War Exhibits
Civil War Timeline
Women in the War
Kids Zone Causes of the Civil War
General Stonewall Jackson
Civil War Submarine
Civil War Store
Grant Takes Command: 1863 - 1865
The enigmatic commander in chief of the Union forces through the last year and a half of the Civil War. It is both a revelatory portrait of Ulysses S. Grant and the dramatic story of how the war was won.
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
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
The Beleaguered City: The Vicksburg Campaign, December 1862-July 1863
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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.

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
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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.

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


Vicksburg Expedition Guide
Annimated movie that details Grants Mississippi campaign which concluded with the seige of Vicksburg. A great background on the importance of this site in the entire war, as well as battles leading up to the Vicksburgh seige.
Vicksburg: 47 Days of Siege
First-hand accounts of life during the 47 days Vicksburg was under siege. Ranging from housewives to soliders on both sides, a good idea of what life was like, from ways to pass the time to what to eat, in and around Vicksburg. A large photo album and a glossary

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



Sources:
U.S. National Park Service
U.S. Library of Congress.

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