#12. Vicksburg I think was always considered pivotal. It gave the Union control of the Mississippi, plus it severed the rail line which supplied the Western states. And the psychological effect cannot be discounted.
I toured that battlefield a couple of years ago. You need to start out at the very northern part, where the bluff overlooked the Mississippi River. Then you’ll understand the why of the rest of the siege. They have a jam-up museum in the old Warren County Courthouse, too.
I’m considering heading down to New Orleans in October and I’ve been contemplating taking a day or two to check out a few Civil War sites (I’ve wanted to go to Shiloh for a while since I have had relatives of many generations ago that lived in TN, but that’s probably a bit of a drive from the Big Easy). Vicksburg isn’t that far of a drive from New Orleans, is it?