Presented by Gene Eric Salecker
With the capture of Vicksburg in July 1863, the Bluff City became a Union citadel within the Confederacy, accessible only via the Mississippi River. Turned into a major Union supply base, Vicksburg was the main starting point for a number of Union expeditions or raids throughout the rest of the war. At the same time, the city became a haven for thousands of liberated enslaved people. And at the very end of the war, Vicksburg became a way station for Union ex-prisoners-of-war being sent back home from Andersonville and other Confederate prisons. Hear the rest of the story concerning the city Abraham Lincoln famously called "the Key" to the Confederacy.
www.TheCivilWarMuseum.org