View single post by Mark
 Posted: Thu Jan 19th, 2012 12:34 pm
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Mark
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Mana: 
 I'm mostly in full agreement with you csamiller, though I am curious as to why people consider Vicksburg such a strategic point. Actually, I suppose the bigger question is why was control of the Mississippi such a vital Union goal that it kept two armies tied up for two years. People have said that it splits the Confederacy in two. Well, yes, but what was the trans-Mississippi sending east that was so vital before Vicksburg fell? Did it allow mid-western farmers to export their crops easier? Yes, again, but grain was hardly the Union's most important export. Someone once wrote in a book that Vicksburg became a vital strategic point because everyone decided it was one, not because it actually was. I think that comment has some validity. Someone please tell me if I'm missing something.

Mark