Magazine content is available exclusively for TIME subscribers.MISSISSIPPI: Vicksburg Surrenders
In the final days of the siege, the people of Vicksburg ate rats, cane shoots and bark. For 47 days Gen. Ulysses S. Grant ringed the city with 75,000 Union troops. Cannon balls crashed in; the sound of musketry seldom died. Finally the city surrendered. The date was July 4, 1863. After that, for the people of Vicksburg, the Fourth of July was never a day to be celebrated.
National holiday or no, banks and stores stayed open in Vicksburg. Firecrackers never popped, skyrockets never tore the night sky. Instead, the story of the black day was passed on from...
To read the entire article, you must be a TIME subscriber. Already registered? Sign in below
Current print subscribers to register
Subscribe now to get TIME All Access
Email, Password or Region is incorrect
A required form parameter was missing.
The System is currently down. Please try again in a few minutes.
Email Address is invalid
Password is blank
Most Popular »
- Your Turn, Canada: A Second-By-Second Look at Jeremy Lin Lighting Up Toronto
- What's in Your Lipstick? FDA Finds Lead in 400 Shades
- Linsanity Heads East, Linfects China and Taiwan
- Iowa Welcomes Back China's Next President
- Love Ever After: A Valentine’s Day Special
- Can Jeremy Lin End The MSG/Time Warner Cable War?
- Rick Santorum Wants to Fight 'The Dangers Of Contraception'
- After Whitney Houston, Musicians Say: I'm Afraid
- 50 Best iPhone Apps 2012
- Top 10 Famous Love Letters
- Harvard's Hoops Star Is Asian. Why's That a Problem?
- With Syria's Rebels: A Visit to a Bombmaker's Factory
- Beirut: Where Valentine's Day Belongs to Another Kind of Saint
- Study: Lead Poisoning Could Lurk in Spices
- Europe's Deep Freeze: Why Climate Change Is Not (Entirely) to Blame
- Children of the New India: How Economic Reforms Impacted Upon the Young
- Friends With Benefits
- Iowa Welcomes Back China's Next President
- The Brain: The Mystery of Consciousness
- What Happens When We Die?
More News from Our Partners
Top Stories on TIME.com
Quotes of the Day »
ADELE, multi Grammy-award winning singer, in an interview given to Vogue before last Sunday's ceremony, on her plans to take a lengthy break. Her last album 21 was inspired by a failed relationship but the Londoner is now "madly in love"
