Battle of Champion Hill

Battle of Champion Hill
Part of the American Civil War
Battle of Champion Hill sketched by Theodore R. Davis
Date May 16, 1863 (1863-05-16) Location Hinds County, Mississippi Result Union victory
Belligerents
United States (Union)	CSA (Confederacy)
Commanders and leaders
Ulysses S. Grant	John C. Pemberton
Units involved
Army of the Tennessee	Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana
Strength
32,000	22,000
Casualties and losses
2,457 total (410 killed, 1,844 wounded, 187 missing)	3,840 total (381 killed, 1,018 wounded, 2,441 missing/captured)

The Battle of Champion Hill, fought May 16, 1863, was the pivotal battle in the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. Union commander Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and the Army of the Tennessee pursued the retreating Confederate Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton and defeated his army twenty miles to the east of Vicksburg, Mississippi, leading inevitably to the Siege of Vicksburg and surrender. The battle is also known as Baker's Creek.

Following the Union occupation of Jackson, Mississippi, on May 14, both Confederate and Federal forces made plans for future operations. General Joseph E. Johnston, commanding all Confederate forces in Mississippi, retreated with most of his army up the Canton Road. However, he ordered Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton, commanding three divisions totaling about 23,000 men, to leave Edwards Station and attack the Federals at Clinton. Pemberton and his generals felt that Johnston's plan was likely to result in disaster and decided instead to attack the Union supply trains moving from Grand Gulf to Raymond. On May 16, however, Pemberton received another message from Johnston repeating his former orders. Pemberton had already started after the supply trains and was on the Raymond-Edwards Road, with his rear at a crossroads one-third mile south of the crest of Champion Hill. When he obediently ordered a countermarch, his rear, including his supply wagons, had become the vanguard of his attack.

Around 7 am on May 16, Union forces engaged the Confederates and the Battle of Champion Hill began. Pemberton's force formed into a three-mile (5 km)-long defensive line that ran southwest to northeast along a crest of a ridge overlooking Jackson Creek. Grant wrote in his Personal Memoirs, "... where Pemberton had chosen his position to receive us, whether taken by accident or design, was well selected. It is one of the highest points in that section, and commanded all the ground in the range."