Gallagher on Vicksburg

The Enduring Civil War: Reflections on the great American crisis Gary W. Gallagher / UVA historian emeritus. Having driven across the river twice in recent months Vicksburg has been much on my mind. I have this big volume on Grant's Vicksburg campaign by Donald L. Miller which has been near the top of my never-ending pile of must-read books. Even though the details of military battles does not interest me (I hated ROTC in college---I've been waiting for years for a chance to say this) I was thinking that maybe I should read the latest and greatest on Vicksburg to stay up to speed in Civil War historiography. That tension has eased somewhat as Prof. Gallagher tells me that Vicksburg is important in understanding the War with General Scott and his Anaconda Plan (surely you remember this), but its importance has been exaggerated. The Yankees took New Orleans in May of 1862 and that may have been more important than Vicksburg. I have decided that I can live without understanding the details of Grant's siege of Vicksburg and famous taking of that seemingly impregnable Confederate fortress in July of 1864 which broke the back of the Confederacy along with Gettysburg. Details matter most to those people who have a compulsion to actually do the math. That's not me. I just want to understand conceptually and let you actually do the math. The same with understanding the significance of the outcome of battles rather than understanding the details of who shot whom and when.