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Williams' Canal, June 27 - July 24, 1862
Grant's Canal, January - March, 1863
| In the summer of 1862, as the ships of the West Gulf
Blockading Squadron under Flag Officer David Glasgow Farragut bombarded the Vicksburg
river defenses, a 3,000-man infantry brigade commanded by Brig. Gen. Thomas Williams began
work on this canal. The purpose of the canal was to create a channel for navigation that
would bypass the Confederate batteries at Vicksburg. The scouring effect of the
Mississippi River's current would keep the canal open. |
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It was believed by some that the man-made channel would
possibly even catch enough of the current's force to cause the river to change course
leaving the city high and dry and make Vicksburg worthless militarily without firing a
shot. Work on the canal commenced on June 27, 1862, as soldiers from Connecticut,
Massachusetts, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Michigan began felling trees and turning dirt.
Disease, however, began to spread as wildfire through the ranks. |
| Dysentery, diarrhea, malaria, and various
fevers took a heavy toll of human life. Men also fell victim by the score to heat
exhaustion and sun stroke. "The labor of making this cut is far greater than
estimated by anybody," confessed Williams who complained bitterly, "The health
of the troops has been much impaired by the absence of proper shelter. The quarters on
board the transports are hot and crowded and those on shore are no protection against
rain." |
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To augment his fast-dwindling workforce,
Williams reported that "Between 1,100 and 1,200 blacks, gathered from neighboring
plantations by armed parties, are now engaged in the work of excavating, cutting down
trees, and grubbing up roots." In spite of the heat, the canal was excavated to a
depth of thirteen feet and a width of eighteen feet--impractical for navigation. |
| By July 24, work on the canal stopped and
Williams' weary soldiers accompanied the West Gulf Blockading Squadron as Farragut
withdrew to safer water. Williams was killed two weeks later in the Battle of Baton Rouge.
In January 1863, work on the canal was resumed by troops under the command of Maj. Gen.
Ulysses S. Grant. |
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Although he placed little confidence in the
success of this project, Grant approved of the idea as it would keep his soldiers in good
physical condition for the spring campaign and, more important, keep the spirit of the
offensive alive. President Abraham Lincoln, however, was enthralled with the scheme and
almost on a daily basis walked across the lawn of the White House to the War Department to
inquire of Grant, "How's work on the canal coming along?" In spite's of
Grant's somewhat optimistic replies, Sherman noted with candor, "The canal don't
amount to much." |
| As the soldiers and blacks that had been pressed into
service dug lower, there was an sudden rise in the river which broke through the dam at
the head of the canal and flooded the area. The canal began to fill up with back water and
sediment. In a desperate effort to rescue the project, two huge steam-driven dipper
dredges, Hercules and Sampson, were put to work clearing the channel. The
dredges, however, were exposed to Confederate artillery fire from the bluffs at Vicksburg
and driven away. By late March, Grant had decided to make a bold change in operations and
work on the canal was abandoned. Over the years,
most of the canal has been obliterated through agricultural operations. This is the only
segment that retains its original width and much of its depth. The small tract was donated
to the National Park Service by local land owners working in conjunction with The
Conservation Fund and became part of the Vicksburg National Military Park in 1990. |
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Last update: Friday, November 05, 1999
http://www.nps.gov/vick/vcmpgn/la_bttl/grntscnl.htm
Editor: G. Zeman |
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