By Gary W. Gallagher, University of Virginia
The summer of 1863 was quite impactful, often put forward by both historians and others as the moment when the war turned decisively against the Confederacy. It was the summer of Gettysburg in the eastern theater and Vicksburg in the western theater, after which many have argued it was simply a matter of time before the United States would triumph.
US Success at Gettysburg
Beginning in the summer and extending through the fall in 1863, there was a period that saw enormous United States success, and this is an excellent illustration of the enormous swings of optimism and pessimism tied to events on the battlefield.
In the eastern theater, Robert Lee mounted another invasion of the United States, this one all the way into Pennsylvania—again based on logistics, on the hope that he could exploit the political divisions in the North.
He got as far as Adams County, Pennsylvania, where he fought the Army of the Potomac yet again, under George Gordon Meade. Lee, however, lost this enormous battle waged at Gettysburg on July 1–3, 1863.
There were unimaginable casualties with more than 50,000 men killed, wounded, or missing out of 75,000 Confederates and 85,000 Federals involved. Lee was allowed to retreat without being harassed by Meade. It was, therefore, a victory, but it’s not a truly killing victory for the United States.
Victory at Vicksburg
At almost precisely the same time, Ulysses Grant captured Vicksburg, Mississippi, after a dazzling campaign that led him to maneuver inland in Mississippi, and then come back against the city from the east.
Vicksburg capitulated on July 4, the same day that Lee retreated from the battle at Gettysburg. Thirty thousand Confederates surrendered at Vicksburg, and with the fall of one smaller Confederate strongpoint a few days later, the United States had taken control of the Mississippi River, one of the great goals of the Anaconda Plan.
They had divided the Confederacy into two pieces, and they had control of the greatest river in the United States. There was more good news yet to be delivered, again, by Ulysses S. Grant. This came at Chattanooga, almost at the end of the year, in late November.
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The Battle of Chattanooga
On November 24 and 25, 1863, Grant won the battle of Chattanooga. It came about in the wake of the only real Confederate tactical victory in the western theater for the entire war. Confederates had concentrated troops in Braxton Bragg’s army, and Bragg had launched an offensive against William Rosecrans that resulted in the battle of Chickamauga, a great Confederate success. Rosecrans had retreated into Chattanooga.
Rosecrans hunkered down in the city; Bragg took up position on high ground around the city, which sits right on the Tennessee River, and things looked very bleak until Lincoln replaced Rosecrans with U.S. Grant.
Grant got on the scene, he pulled in his friend William Sherman, and brought reinforcements from Virginia as well, and lifted the siege of Chattanooga in a very remarkable battle at the end of November.
Control of Tennessee
It was a battle that involved one of the most famous assaults of the war. Confederates were arrayed on high ground called Missionary Ridge, several hundred feet high—a seemingly impregnable position—and some of the Union soldiers attacked up that high ground and drove Bragg’s army—called the Army of Tennessee—off that very, very strong position.
Bragg retreated very rapidly after that, and Grant could survey complete success in this western theater of the war. This was the last major battle in Tennessee. It gave the United States absolute, unequivocal control of Tennessee, and it gave Grant a position among United States military officers that was unchallenged by any other in the galaxy of commanders on the northern side.
So, What Makes Summer of 1863 Important?
Chattanooga fell to United States hands, and it completed this triple play that the United States carried out—of Gettysburg in the east, Vicksburg on the Mississippi River, and now Chattanooga in the Tennessee theater; these were tremendous, tremendous successes.
The summer of 1863 certainly was an important moment, because it reversed the trend, especially in Virginia, that had seemed to indicate that the Confederacy was going to triumph. It stopped Lee’s string of victories, and then it brought this tremendous success from across the border.
It was an important United States victory, but it was not a victory that told most people—North and South—that the war was going to end necessarily in United States triumph. Certainly, if we fast forward very quickly to the summer of 1864, when United States morale reached its nadir for the entire conflict, no one at that point would have believed in Vicksburg and Gettysburg being great turning points, and that the United States is clearly going to win.
Common Questions about the Summer of 1863 and the Civil War
The US victory at Vicksburg had materialized the great Anaconda plan. Vicksburg capitulated on July 4, the same day that Lee retreated from the battle at Gettysburg. Thirty thousand Confederates surrendered at Vicksburg, and with the fall of one smaller Confederate strongpoint a few days later, the United States had taken control of the Mississippi River, one of the great goals of the Anaconda Plan.
Lincoln replaced Rosecrans with U.S. Grant. Grant got on the scene; he pulled in his friend Sherman, and brought reinforcements from Virginia as well, and lifted the siege of Chattanooga in a very remarkable battle at the end of November.
The summer of 1863 certainly was an important moment, because it reversed the trend, especially in Virginia, that had seemed to indicate that the Confederacy was going to triumph. It stopped Lee’s string of victories, and then it brought this tremendous success from across the border.
