Engineers at Vicksburg: Part Four, Grant's Canal

The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center issued the following news story:

Introduction

Engineers in Union blue and Confederate gray played a prominent role in the Vicksburg campaigns of 1862-1863. Although their contributions have largely gone unnoticed in published works on the campaign, the stories of these men and the fatigue parties that toiled under their supervision are worthy of note and will be detailed in this series of articles.

Part Four: Grant's Canal

During the summer of 1862, as the Union fleet maintained an intermittent and ineffective bombardment of the Confederate batteries at Vicksburg. Union Flag Officer David Glasgow Farragut realized that he could not compel the surrender of the fortress city based solely on the might of his naval guns. Fortunately, a brigade of soldiers commanded by Brig. Gen. Thomas Williams had accompanied the squadron upriver from the Gulf. Farragut turned to Williams and asked if he thought his 3,200-man force strong enough to take the city. The plan advanced by Farragut was for the infantrymen...