Battle of Grand Gulf

Battle of Grand Gulf
Part of the Vicksburg campaign
Black and white illustration of steamboats firing from a river onto the ruins of a town and the bluffs behind. Smoke rises from the ruins, the bluffs, and the smokestacks of the ships.
1887 illustration of Union ships bombarding the Confederate positions at Grand Gulf
DateApril 29, 1863 (1863-04-29)
Location
Grand Gulf, Mississippi
32°01′45″N 91°03′22″W / 32.02917°N 91.05611°W / 32.02917; -91.05611
Result Confederate victory
Belligerents
United States United States (Union) Confederate States of America CSA (Confederacy)
Commanders and leaders
David D. Porter John S. Bowen
Units involved
Mississippi Squadron Bowen's division
Strength
7 ironclad warships
c. 10,000 men on transport vessels		 4,200
Casualties and losses
75–80 18–22

The Battle of Grand Gulf was fought on April 29, 1863, during the American Civil War. Union Army forces commanded by Major General Ulysses S. Grant had failed several times to bypass or capture the Confederate-held city of Vicksburg, Mississippi, during the Vicksburg campaign. Grant decided to move his army south of Vicksburg, cross the Mississippi River, and then advance on the city. A Confederate Army division under Brigadier General John S. Bowen prepared defenses—Forts Wade and Cobun—at Grand Gulf, Mississippi, south of Vicksburg. To clear the way for a Union crossing, seven Union Navy ironclad warships from the Mississippi Squadron commanded by Admiral David Dixon Porter bombarded the Confederate defenses at Grand Gulf on April 29. Union fire silenced Fort Wade and killed its commander, but the overall Confederate position held. Grant decided to cross the river elsewhere.

The next day, Union forces crossed the river at Bruinsburg, Mississippi. A Union victory in the Battle of Port Gibson on May 1 secured the beachhead and forced the abandonment of the position at Grand Gulf, which became a Union supply point. Grant's command moved inland, and after defeating Confederate forces in the Battle of Champion Hill on May 16, began the Siege of Vicksburg two days later. Vicksburg surrendered on July 4, marking a major Confederate defeat and a turning point in the war. The Grand Gulf battlefield is preserved in Grand Gulf Military State Park, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.