Battle of Jackson

The Battle of Jackson was fought on May 14, 1863, outside Jackson, Mississippi, during the Vicksburg campaign of the American Civil War. As part of a campaign to capture the strategic Mississippi River town of Vicksburg, Mississippi, Major General Ulysses S. Grant of the Union Army began moving his force east across the river on April 30, 1863. This beachhead was protected by a victory at the Battle of Port Gibson on May 1. Moving inland, Grant intended to wheel his army north to strike the railroad between Vicksburg and the Mississippi capital of Jackson. On May 12, the Union XVII Corps of Major General James B. McPherson defeated Confederate troops commanded by Brigadier General John Gregg at the Battle of Raymond. This alerted Grant to the presence of a potentially dangerous Confederate force at Jackson, leading him to change his plans and swing towards Jackson with McPherson's corps and Major General William T. Sherman's XV Corps.

General Joseph E. Johnston was ordered to take command of the growing Confederate force at Jackson, but after arriving at the city quickly decided that it could not be held. Johnston's decision to abandon Jackson has since been criticized by historians. With McPherson's corps approaching Jackson from the northwest and Sherman's from the southwest, Gregg was tasked with fighting a delaying action on May 14 while the Confederates evacuated supplies from the city. Gregg, at first unaware of the approach of Sherman's corps, positioned his troops to block McPherson's advance. Once Sherman's presence became known, Gregg dispatched a cobbled-together force commanded by Colonel Albert P. Thompson to delay Sherman. The Union advances were hampered by rain and muddy roads. Thompson's force initially took a position behind the sole local crossing of Lynch Creek, but withdrew due to heavy Union artillery fire. After the rain ceased, McPherson's troops drove the Confederates back into the line of fortifications surrounding Jackson.

By around 2:00 pm, Gregg was informed that the Confederate wagon train had left Jackson, and he withdrew his forces from the city. Sherman's soldiers captured several Mississippi State Troops and armed civilians who were manning a line of cannons to mask the Confederate withdrawal. Union troops entered Jackson, leading to chaotic destruction and pillaging, although some of the destruction was the work of local civilians and fires set by the retreating Confederates. McPherson's corps moved west on May 15 in support of Major General John A. McClernand's XIII Corps, while Sherman's men remained at the city to complete the destruction of infrastructure and manufacturing facilities, particularly the railroads. The Confederate commander at Vicksburg, Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton, received orders from Johnston regarding cooperation, despite Johnston moving his army away from Pemberton. Pemberton initially attempted to comply with Johnston's orders, but after a council of war decided to strike at what the Confederates believed to be Grant's supply line. Grant's army decisively defeated Pemberton at the Battle of Champion Hill on May 16; May 18 saw Union troops approaching the defenses of Vicksburg. After a siege, Vicksburg surrendered on July 4. Johnston, who had been reinforced for the purpose of assisting Vicksburg, reoccupied Jackson but failed to make a serious attempt to lift the siege. Johnston's army was driven from Jackson a second time in July, after the Jackson expedition.