Then came the Siege of Vicks-burg which went on for near-ly sev-en weeks. The foe held out as long as there was a crust of bread left. Grant said he should stay there till he took the town.
FIRST CHARGE AT VICKSBURG.
These were his words;
“I can-not tell just when I shall take the town, but I mean to stay till I do, if it takes me thir-ty years.”
The end came on Ju-ly 4, 1863. The foe sent up white flags on all their lines and the men of the South filed out and stacked their arms in front of the Un-ion for-ces.
Grant rode in-to Vicks-burg at head of Lo-gan’s corps. He was proud of his troops and that the right had won. The news flew fast o’er the land. Lin-coln sent strong words of thanks to Grant, gave him high praise, and made him Ma-jor Gen-er-al.
At the same time that Grant was at work on the Vicks-burg Siege, Un-ion troops, led by Gen. N. P. Banks, fought to get Port Hud-son which lay at the south end of the reb-el part of the riv-er. At last it had to yield, and on Ju-ly 9, 1863, it hauled down its flag of stars and bars. Then the brave “boys in blue” marched in and flung out the star-span-gled ban-ner to the breeze. From that time on the great Mis-sis-sip-pi Riv-er was a safe road-way for all un-armed craft which flew the stars and stripes.
In the East, in the Spring of ’63, Hoo-ker fought the “Chan-cel-lors-ville Cam-paign” and lost. Then, on May 6th, he re-crossed the Rap-pa-han-nock.
Lee had tak-en his ar-my a-cross the Po-to-mac and was in Penn-syl-va-ni-a.