To insure that troops were not withdrawn to Grand Gulf to assist Confederates there, a combined Union Army Navy force feigned an attack on Snyder's Bluff, Mississippi. After noon, on April 29th, Lieutenant Cdr. K. Randolph Breese, with his eight gunboats and ten transports carrying Major General Francis Blair's division, inched up the Yazoo River to the mouth of Chickasaw Bayou where they spent the night.

At 9:00 am, the next morning, the force, minus one gunboat, continued upriver to Drumgould's Bluff and engaged the enemy batteries. During the fighting, Choctaw suffered more than fifty hits, but no casualties occurred. Around 6:00 pm, the troops disembarked and marched along Blake's Levee toward the guns. As they neared Drumgould's Bluff, a battery opened on them, creating havoc and casualties. The Union advance halted and, after dark, the men reembarked on the transports.

The next morning, transports disembarked other troops. The swampy terrain and enemy heavy artillery fire forced them to retire. The gunboats opened fire again, about 3:00 pm on the 1st, causing some damage. Later, the boats' fire slackened and stopped altogether after dark.

General Sherman had received orders to land his troops at Milliken's Bend, so the gunboats returned to their anchorages at the mouth of the Yazoo.

Result(s): Confederate victory

Location: Warren County

Campaign: Grant's Operations against Vicksburg (1863) next battle in campaign previous battle in campaign

Date(s): April 29-May 1, 1863

Principal Commanders: Major General William T. Sherman [US]; Brigadier General Louis Hébert [CS]

Forces Engaged: XV Army Corps, Department of the Tennessee [US]; Hébert's Brigade [CS]

Estimated Casualties: Unknown

• 25 Union and 25 Confederate Soldier Figures, 18 Horses, 10 Cannon
• 2 Covered Wagons, 2 Tents, 2 Canoes, 2 Flags, 16 Fences
• Size: Figures Stand up to 2-1/8 inches tall
• Scale: 1/32nd, Wagons and Horses slightly smaller

Vicksburg: 47 Days of Siege
First-hand accounts of life during the 47 days Vicksburg was under siege. Ranging from housewives to soliders on both sides, a good idea of what life was like, from ways to pass the time to what to eat, in and around Vicksburg. A large photo album and a glossary

The Beleaguered City: The Vicksburg Campaign, December 1862-July 1863
Shelby Foote explains all engagements in and around Vicksburg. Every event is descriptively written covering naval strategies along the Mississippi, Yazoo and other rivers which were of importance to naval affairs of each opposing side

Kindle Available

Grant Wins the War
Decision at Vicksburg
A brilliantly constructed new account,A penetrating analysis of Grant's strategies and actions leading to the Union victory at Vicksburg. Approaching these epic events from a unique and well-rounded perspective, and based on careful research

Sherman's Mississippi Campaign
Sherman set out from Vicksburg on February 3, 1864, with an army of some 25,000 infantry and a battalion of cavalry. An opportunity to observe how this large-scale raid presaged Shermans Atlanta and Carolina campaigns, revealing the transformation of Shermans strategic thinking

Kindle Available

Vicksburg: The Campaign That Opened the Mississippi
Confederate troops surrendered Vicksburg on July 4, 1863 a crucial port and rail depot for the South was lost

Kindle Available

Champion Hill
Decisive Battle for Vicksburg
The Battle of Champion Hill was the decisive land engagement of the Vicksburg Campaign. The May 16, 1863, fighting took place just 20 miles east of the river city, where the advance of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Federal army attacked Gen. John C. Pemberton's hastily gathered Confederates

Vicksburg Expedition Guide
Annimated movie that details Grants Mississippi campaign which concluded with the seige of Vicksburg. A great background on the importance of this site in the entire war, as well as battles leading up to the Vicksburgh seige.

The Darkest Days of the War
The Battles of Iuka and Corinth
The strategic implications of the battles of Iuka and Corinth, exploring their impact on the fate of the Northern Mississippi Campaign, the fall of Vicksburg and by extension, the fate of the Confederacy.

Kindle Available

The Free State of Jones
Mississippi's Longest Civil War
The southeastern Mississippi county that was home to a Unionist stronghold during the Civil War and home to a large and complex mixed-race community in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries

Ninety-Eight Days: A Geographer's View of the Vicksburg Campaign
The geology of the Mississippi river, and how the landcape along the river determined the course of events and logistical realities that the armies had to contend with, such as the pounds per square inch of a cassion wheel as it contacts the earth

Kindle Available

The 16th Mississippi Infantry
Civil War Letters and Reminiscences
Who better to tell an infrantry man's story then themselves. The hardships of Marches, Poor food and bitter fighting.

A Hard Trip
A History of the 15th Mississippi Infantry
The reality of the moment in 1860-61 Mississippi. The thoughts of the men who formed the 15th Mississippi are front and center with good background about the communities the men came from and the reasons they joined the army.