Confederate and Union armies realized the importance of the Mississippi waterway. The Confederates erected fortification up and down the Mississippi, protecting strategic points along the way.
One by one, southern fortifications fell to Union troops in early Civil War action. Vicksburg and Port Hudson were the last of the South's strongholds and proved to be the bloodiest campaign on the mighty river. Union General Ulysses S. Grant focused his attentions on Vicksburg and southern General John C. Pemberton's troops in October, 1862. The fighting continued until May of the following year. Grant changed his tactics and began a formal siege of the city. The Union forces hammered Vicksburg from land batteries and gunboats along the river. On July 4, 1863, Penberton officially surrendered and five days later, Port Hudson fell. The entire Mississippi River was finally under the North's control.
Pictured here is a section of the entrenched Battery DeGolyer, attended by Michigan's 8th Artillery Division and commanded by Captain DeGolyer.