Vicksburg Under Siege
Americans living in caves, explosions riddling their homes above - sounds like a late night science fiction movie, doesn't it? In 1863 it really happened in Vicksburg, Mississippi. During the hardship and uncertainty of a siege, Vicksburg civilians struggled to carry on with everyday life.

On May 19, Ulysses S. Grant marched his troops as close to the Vicksburg Confederate defenses as he dared, and the Shirley family found their home caught between two armies. For three days, Mrs. Shirley, her son, and two slaves sat near the sheltering brick chimney as bullets and shells crashed through their home and shattered their furniture. They escaped, but their home would never be the same again.

Neither would the houses of many of their neighbors. After two fruitless attacks, Grant decided to starve the Confederates out, ordering his army to surround Vicksburg. Keeping food and supplies from the defending army, the Northern lines wrapped so tightly around the town that one soldier bragged, "Not even a cat could get out." For forty-seven days, Union shot and shell rained down on the Confederate fortifications and the town. Many citizens fled to large caves dug into the soft ground by enterprising slaves who were often paid $30 or more, depending on the cave's size. Rugs covered dirt floors. Candles cast flickering glows on mirrors and pictures, beds and rocking chairs, anything to make it seem more like home.

As Union siege lines tightened around the Confederate troops and town, supplies dwindled. With scarce goods priced beyond their reach, people improvised. One woman proudly wrote that she had resoled her shoes, a skill she never dreamed she had. The local newspaper continued to be published regularly, printed on wallpaper when newsprint ran out.

The town's food supply grew dangerously low as the siege wore on. Cooks served mule meat at the dinner table. An anonymous citizen, refusing to surrender a sense of humor, wrote a fictitious menu advertising such local delicacies as "Mule Head Stuffed a La Mode" and "Mule Tongue Cold a La Bray." Others found little to laugh about. One slave, unable to find food, soaked sweaty horse blankets in mudholes, wrung them out, and drank the filthy water, which "was strength'nin', like weak soup."

It was getting harder to carry on. As July began, Confederate General John C. Pemberton polled his officers about the status of the army. One message rang clear: their spirits were unbroken, but their bodies couldn't carry on like this much longer. On July 4, 1863, the citizens of Vicksburg emerged from their caves to see the Union army marching into the city, having received the surrender of the Confederate troops. The long siege was over. During the next years of Union occupation, these citizens would remember how they had persevered during the siege and know that somehow they would survive the vastly changing world around them.

A Vicksburg woman
comtemplates her new
home underground.