[stevem]

...a critical turning point in the Civil War, since it enabled the Union to control transportation on the Mississippi, effectively cutting the Confederacy in two. The fall of Vicksburg was the culmination of a siege of six weeks duration.

It was much more important as another event that allowed Lincoln to discover US Grant. IMO Grant was the most important man to ever put on a uniform for the United States. He was also the greatest general this country ever produced.

[justiceseeker93]

It was much more important as another event that allowed Lincoln to discover US Grant.

I'm not sure that Lincoln wouldn't have heard about Grant before Vicksburg. He had commanded Union troops in quite a number of victorious earlier battles through Kentucky and Tennessee, including Shiloh, and was the commander, IIRC, of just about all Union troops in what was then called the western theater.

And I believe that Grant didn't get command of the Grand Army of the Potomac (eastern sector) until about a year after Vicksburg. IIRC, after Vicksburg, Grant joined up with Sherman in the Union campaigns eastward through the Confederacy.

[Grant] was also the greatest general this country ever produced.

That's one opinion, but there are a number of others who could be considered. I'm not knowledgeable enough on the issue to be of much help there.