The Strategic Importance of the Battle of Vicksburg

Chicago resident Paul Liska has decades of executive experience across multiple industries as a private investor. A former CFO, Paul Liska holds significant expertise in mergers and acquisitions in addition to corporate transformational change.

Outside his work, Mr. Liska enjoys strength training and reading books on historical topics that include World War I and Ulysses S. Grant. Grant was the 18th President of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877, the period of reconstruction following the Civil War. Prior to this he served as the commander of the Union Army, during which time he claimed major victories over the Confederacy that included the Battle of Vicksburg.

Also known as the Siege of Vicksburg, the Battle of Vicksburg took place in the summer of 1863 in western Mississippi. It resulted in a Union Army victory over Confederate forces led by John Pemberton, with total casualties in excess of 37,000. Grant won the battle following a forty-day siege of the Confederate forces trapped inside the city.

The battle itself was critical, due to Vicksburg’s strategic position along the Mississippi River. In addition to the surrender of Pemberton’s army, the victory gave Union forces control of the entire Mississippi. This effectively cut the Confederacy in two, and also provided the Union army a supply route for moving soldiers and supplies.