Earlier this summer the Union Army and Naval forces had opened the Mississippi River from St. Louis down to just North of Vicksburg. Because of its high perch on the river bluffs, Vicksburg presented a formidable challenge.
In the fall of 1862 the first campaign against Vicksburg was planned. General Sherman was to move down the Mississippi River from Memphis with the right wing of the Army of the Tennessee, while General Grant was to attack from the east with the left wing.
Those plans began to take shape in late 1862. Grant established a depot of supplies about 230 miles north-northeast of Vicksburg at Holly Springs, Mississippi. And by December there were a large number of Union soldiers in Memphis, as General Sherman organized his army to advance on Vicksburg. The Memphis wharf was lined with steamboats loading with provisions and the munitions of war.
