On June 25, 1863, the great siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi had been underway for a month. However, the tedium of siege warfare was about to be broken by a startling incident that occurred when a tunnel was dug beneath Vicksburg’s defenses. Mines were laid inside, which would soon explode. No one could have foreseen the unexpected result of this military action.
General Ulysses S. Grant had led his troops across the Mississippi River at Bruinsburg and, after a series of battles, had pursued Confederate troops under General Pemberton within the Vicksburg limits. Due to both natural and man-made defenses, the riverfront city was nearly impregnable. The fortifications stretched for seven miles along the ridges, each end of which was anchored by 200-foot river cliffs. The forts themselves were connected by trenches. The South had worked on the city’s defenses for a year, and the Federals were going to have a hard time taking it by force.
Inside the besieged city, residents abandoned their homes and entrenched themselves in the hills. Using mostly the labor of their slaves, they created multi-room houses, often bringing in rugs and furniture to increase their comfort. Northern soldiers called the area the “Prairie Dog Town.” Shells fired from land batteries and ships on the great river fell harmlessly past the houses on the hills. The seat stretched out with little action.
Fortunately for the North, an ancient weapon was at its disposal: hunger. In June, Vicksburgers were limited to half and then a quarter of rations. Finally, they were reduced to eating mule meat and peas. Many felt that mule meat was degrading to eat. The peas were mixed with cornmeal and shaped into bread that had a texture like gunpowder. When baked, the peas took twice as long to cook as cornmeal, resulting in a half-raw bread. Dejected residents later said that the bread resembled Indian gum and also digested very well.
Eventually, Grant grew impatient with the wait and ordered the engineers to dig the aforementioned tunnel. The mines were carefully laid under the fortifications where the alien Confederate soldiers were stationed, and the engineers left the tunnel, uncoiling long fuses as they went. When everything was ready, the fuses were lit and a huge crater was opened in the walls. The Union soldiers who rushed in soon found themselves locked in mortal combat with the shocked Confederates.
The big explosion had an unintended consequence. A South Slav named Abraham rose into the air and sailed right over the Union lines, landing with a thud among the astonished soldiers. He was unharmed and she looked around, realizing that, in an instant, he was free. An Iowa unit promptly claimed it as “spoils of war” and set it up inside a tent. Curious soldiers were charged five cents to see the “flying black.” He was grateful to be released and to be fed much better. Abraham became something of a celebrity, eventually serving in the US Quartermaster Department.
The explosion itself was unsuccessful, as the southern soldiers fired on the northerners in the crater. They were soon called and Pemberton gave Grant permission to collect their dead and wounded. After a second mine exploded, Grant was back to his waiting game, enriched by an inadvertently acquired slave. Vicksburg finally surrendered on July 4, 1863.
Despite all the loss of life and misery, one man in particular came out the winner at Vicksburg. By sheer luck, Abraham, a black slave, won his freedom in spectacular fashion. Being literally released to freedom, his emancipation occurred before the Lincoln Proclamation had taken effect.
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