This is Murder! -- Vicksburg NMP, Vicksburg MS
N 32° 22.255 W 090° 50.460
15S E 703124 N 3583599
A National Park Service sign detailing Sherman's horror at Grant's attack on the Confederate Stockade Redan, at Vicksburg NMP tour stop 5
Waymark Code: WMMH18
Location: Mississippi, United States
Date Posted: 09/20/2014
Views: 10
An explanatory sign about "the Forlorn Hope," an attack by Union soldiers against the Confederate's Stockade Redan, that led US Army General Grant to decide to take Vicksburg by siege, and not by assault.
Blasterz would note that if SHERMAN thought it was murder, it had to have been bad.
The sign reads as follows:
THIS IS MURDER!
They were all volunteers -- and unmarried -- those 150 Union men called "The Forlorn Hope." Powerful cannon had pounded the Confederates for four straight hours. Laden with planks and hastily-built ladders, they struggled up the road in front of you. Their job: Bridge the seven-foot deep ditch that fronted the Confederate fort looming 200 yards ahead. As they moved down the open road, deadly fire from the fort cut the boys in blue to pieces.
Only a handful made it to the ditch alive, where they remained pinned down. The Union attack bogged down. A second advance was ordered. Again, the Federals were ripped apart as they advanced along the road. The numbing casualties of May 22 convinced General Grant to lay siege to Vicksburg. Almost half of the Forlorn Hope volunteers were casualties during the May 22 assault, The survivors were awarded the Medal of Honor.
"This is Murder! Bring those troops back!
-General Philip Sherman"
Date Installed:: 2000
Organization that placed the object:: National Park Service
Related Website:: [Web Link]
Photo or photos will be uploaded.: yes
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