GUEST BLOG / EDITORS OF THE CIVIL WAR TRUST--As the first streaks of dawn appeared in the
eastern sky on May 16, 1863, a train heading east neared Clinton, Mississippi
and found the tracks ahead destroyed. The brakeman and the baggage-master were
escorted by Union soldiers into the presence of Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant.
When questioned, they informed the Union commander that the Confederate army
defending Vicksburg, which they estimated numbered 25,000 men with ten
batteries, was in Edwards and preparing to attack the rear of Grant’s army.
This was not a bad estimate of the Confederate army, which actually consisted
of 23,000 men and 15 batteries. Grant ordered his troops, 32,000 in all, to
march on Edwards along three parallel roads—one upper, one lower, and one
midway between them.

On top of the hill Hovey could see soldiers clad in butternut and gray supported by artillery. These guns opened fire on the long blue column and announced that battle had been joined.
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A.P. Hovey |
Union soldiers swept over the crest of Champion Hill and
drove hard toward the crossroads only 600 yards farther south. Despite a
murderous fire of musketry and artillery, Hovey’s division seized the
crossroads and the Union army was on the verge of victory.
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J.C. Pemberton |
Brig. Gen. Lloyd Tilghman’s brigade was left behind to cover
the Confederate retreat. The Federals advanced in force against Tilghman and he
was mortally wounded while directing the fire of Capt. James Cowen’s
Mississippi battery. His brigade was forced from the field, but his sacrifice
enabled most of Pemberton’s army to safely withdraw towards Vicksburg, with the
exception of Loring’s Division, which was cut off and managed to escape
southeastward to Crystal Springs. The decisive Union victory at Champion Hill
was instrumental in forcing the Confederates out of the open field and into a
doomed position inside the walls of Vicksburg.
OTHER ARTICLES on the Battle of Champion Hill:
http://www.minecreek.info/grand-gulf/the-battle-of-champion-hill.html
http://www.historynet.com/bloody-field-at-champions-hill.htm
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