Sherman, William Tecumseh, as Union General

Autograph letter signed ("Sherman Maj Genl"), 1 page (9 7/8 x 7 7/8 in.; 250 x 200 mm) on a bifolium of blue-ruled paper (watermarked platner & smith | lee mass with a war eagle on shield), "Head Qtrs 15 Army Corps 1 1/2 M[iles] N[orth] of Vicksburg on Walnut Hills," no date [ca. 19 May 1863], to Admiral David D. Porter; a few tiny light stains.

Autograph letter signed ("Sherman Maj Genl"), 1 page (9 7/8 x 7 7/8 in.; 250 x 200 mm) on a bifolium of blue-ruled paper (watermarked platner & smith | lee mass with a war eagle on shield), "Head Qtrs 15 Army Corps 1 1/2 M[iles] N[orth] of Vicksburg on Walnut Hills," no date [ca. 19 May 1863], to Admiral David D. Porter; a few tiny light stains.
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With Union forces encircling Vicksburg, the normally cautious Sherman makes an ebullient boast: "the Capture of Vicksburg is a dead sure thing."

Ulysses Grant had made the capture of Vicksburg the lynchpin of both his southern campaign and his campaign to retain his political support and general command. The Confederate stronghold had been reinforced by 31,000 troops under General John C. Pemberton, but Grant deployed his army around the city: Sherman's Fifteenth Corps to the north, McClernand's Thirteenth Corps at the south, and McPherson's Seventeenth Corps in the center. The Mississippi River was controlled by Union gunboats commanded by Admiral D. D. Porter, to whom Sherman directed this report:

"My Corps is in position just above Town below Chickasaw. McPherson is coming up on the left. And McClernand still more to the left. The Enemy was badly whipped on all occasions and the Capture of Vicksburg is a dead sure thing. We must prevent the reassemblage of the Army at other points. I send a Messenger to you. Come to Mrs. Locke's[?] Landing and you will see our men on the Old Bluffs. We must at once get our communications established for Corn and bread. Thus far this has been a Vast Success and I hope today or morrow will put us in Vicksburg. Still you should put all boats in right in front at Harris Bluff."

Sherman was right to be concerned about reestablishing the Union's supply lines. Topography and weather combined with Pemberton's fortifications to make Vicksburg virtually impregnable. Two Union assaults on the city, one on the date of the present letter, the other on 22 May, were repulsed. Vicksburg was eventually captured, but not in the day or two that Sherman had too glibly predicted. Grant entrenched his men for a long siege, and the trapped Pemberton was forced to surrender his garrison on 4 July 1863—coincidentally the same day that saw Robert E. Lee forced to retreat from Gettysburg.