Battle of Big Black River Bridge

Overview

The Battle of Big Black River Bridge was fought on May 17, 1863, as part of the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. During the war, the city of Vicksburg, Mississippi, was a key point on the Mississippi River. On April 30, 1863, a Union army commanded by Major General Ulysses S. Grant began crossing onto the east side of the Mississippi River as part of a campaign against Vicksburg. After engaging and defeating Confederate forces in several intermediate battles, Grant's army defeated Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton's troops at the decisive Battle of Champion Hill on May 16. During the retreat from Champion Hill battlefield, one division of Pemberton's army, commanded by Major General William W. Loring, was cut off from Pemberton's main body. Pemberton, retreating westwards towards Vicksburg, did not know the location of Loring's division, and he held a bridgehead on the east side of the Big Black River to cover Loring's anticipated withdrawal across the river on the morning of May 17.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The Battle of Big Black River Bridge was fought on May 17, 1863, as a direct consequence of the Confederate defeat at Champion Hill the previous day. After that decisive engagement, Pemberton's army retreated westward toward Vicksburg, and Pemberton established a bridgehead on the east bank of the Big Black River to cover the anticipated withdrawal of Loring's division, which had been cut off during the Champion Hill retreat. Union forces under McClernand engaged the Confederate defenders, inflicting 1,751 casualties on a force of roughly 5,000 men. The loss of the bridgehead denied Pemberton's army any realistic ability to consolidate east of the river, compressing Confederate forces into the Vicksburg defenses. The battle effectively closed off the open campaign phase of the Vicksburg operation and set the conditions for the siege that followed, which would end with the surrender of Vicksburg on July 4, 1863—a result that gave Union forces control of the Mississippi River and split the Confederacy along that axis.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (3)