"Vicksburg, nicknamed the Gibraltar of the Confederacy, was vital to Confederate supply lines, troop movements, and access to port cities on the Gulf of Mexico. The fortified city had been under constant attack since 1862 as Admiral Farragut assaulted Vicksburg after capturing New Orleans, and Major General Halleck enlisted then Major General Grant to devise an overland campaign to support a naval engagement. As Vicksburg was heavily garrisoned and resupplied regularly, Federal plans came up short again and again. But the pugnacious Grant would eventually devise a bold plan to cross the Mississippi River and advance along the western bank, use a feint by General Sherman's forces and a raid by Colonel Grierson's cavalry to draw out Confederate troops, then recross the river and capture Vicksburg. Decisions of the Vicksburg Campaign explores the critical decisions made by Confederate and Federal commanders during the battle and how these decisions shaped its outcome. Complete with maps and a driving tour, this volume is twentieth in the Command Decisions in America's Civil War series"--