so farragut took his beloved flagship to vicksburg in june, 1862. and when i will go back down again god only knows he wrote to one of his naval colleagues. it appears the department is under the belief that it is easier for me to encounter the mississippi and ascend a thousand miles against a strong current than it is to come down the stream. farragut's reference here was to andrew foot and charles e davis and to the western flotilla of iron clad river boats and supported by the september clads which had worked with the army on the tennessee and cumberland rivers and moved into the mississippi where they helped capture island number ten and had destroyed the confederate river defense fleet at memphis and captured that city in early june, 1862. foot had been wounded in the ankle at fort donaldson and by may, 1862 his wound was giving him so much trouble that he took a leave and was replaced by charles davis. at the end of june and beginning of july the two fleets met in vicksburg. davis coming from above and farragut from below which had become the

the vicksburg batteries to keep down their fire. this union attacked occurred on july 22nd. the two northern vessels hit the arkansas glancing blows which appeared to not do significant damage. they cracked the engine's connecting rods deranging the arkansas's weak and unreliable engin engines. two weeks later the connecting rods broke and the arkansas's crew blew her up to prevent her capture by union gun boats. the arkansas had been able to get that far downriver because the navy department sent the welcome orders to take his fleet down to new orleans and then with part of it out into the gulf of mexico to avoid being stranded in the river as the water continued to drop. just so that we are on salt water i shall be satisfied and hope not to grumble at the fates that will take me out of the freshwater river. the failure to take vicksburg in july 1862 was part of a succession of union failures in the second half of that year which arrested the union momentum that had crested with the capture of new orleans and the river navy's captu

but that momentum revived in the spring of 1863 and was stopped again by gettysburg and vicksburg and later in the fall chattanooga. so that was the third turning point. as i and others have written, it looked like the north was prepared to throw in the towel in the summer of 1864 because of huge casualties without any kind of progress in both virginia and georgia. in august of 1864, lincoln was sure he would lose re-election, the re-election on grounds of military failure. yet with the fall of atlanta and the union victories in the shenandoah valley and 1864 and re-election of lincoln, i see that as the final and decisive turning point. i argue that each one of these could have gone in a differenee decisive turning point. it was only particular factors in each case that we're not for ordained in any particular way. the fall of atlanta in 1864 was no more than the fall of richmond had been in june of 1862. that's when i meant by contingency, we need to understand in each of these cases why and how it was that these events turned out the way they did rather than in some other way, but

is it still your position pretty much the turning point took place at gettysburg or vicksburg or have your views evolved since then? >> i think i identified what i called four major turning points in the civil war, and i think i would stick with that. the first one was actually a turning point from what looked like inevitable union victory in the spring of 1862 with all of the union successes in the western theater and along the south atlantic coast. with mclellan's army of the potomac, 100,000 strong looking like any day here at the beginning of june they were going to march into richmond. could the confederacy have survived this succession of defeats climaxed by the capture of their capital. we know counter-offensives by the army of virginia and other confederate armies turned that situation around. so that by the late summer of 1862 rather than being in danger of losing capital, confederate armies crossed potomac river and threatening to cross the ohio river. then the battle of antietam, of somewhat less importance but significance nonetheless, battle of perryville in the fall of 1

it was jim who took me on my first battlefield tours of gettysburg and vicksburg. jim and i and pat and deb went to andersonville together. everything i think about the civil war is filtered through jim mcpherson. we share a kind of fundamentalist approach to the civil war, understanding this was a war about slavery from the start. but the truth is i went to princeton thinking of myself as a southern historian and i left princeton thinking of myself as a civil war historian. so you can imagine my surprise when a year or so ago a prominent publish erika up to me and suggested, well, it's almost 25 years since battle cry of freedom was published. maybe it's time we need a new synthesis, and maybe you should write it. i was shocked. first of all, 25 years. has it really been 25 years? it seems so fresh in my mind. second, why? why do we need a new -- would would we even need a new synthesis? has there been that much scholarship? do things change that much if you did rewrite it? also i thought, if i had 25 more years to study the civil war, i don't think i'd know as mu

in my judgment thiezchievements along with the part in the port hud sentence and vicksburg campaigns in 1863 but especially the capture of new orleans, one of the most important northern strategic victories of the war do entitle him to virtually equal status with grant and sherman in winning the war. in the eyes of contemporaries in 1861, however, the allegiance to the united states in the sectional conflict was an open question. although he had served under the american flag for half a century and had fought in the war of 1812 and the mexican war under that flag, a similar record was true of other southern born officers who chose to go with the confederacy. ferigate had been born and raised in tennessee, had married a woman from virginia. after his first wife died he married another virginia woman in 1843. when he was not at sea he lived in norfolk. he had a brother in new orleans and a sister in mississippi. as a sectional conflict heated up he said to friends in virginia, god forbit i should ever have to raise my hand against the south. but when abraham lincoln called out the mili

i understand what is expected from the fans in the city of vicksburg. the steelers are such a great part of this town, and that is where my bge in this city of pittsburg. -- that is where my excitement is, to come back and be part of this city of great tradition. >> tiger woods and michael vick have been declared the most disliked athletes. tigers approached -- he hits the green and sets himself up for a birdie. he is forerunner in the opening round with five shots off the lead. a birdie for tony romo on 14. capitals fans could probably think a lot of words to describe a loss tonight, and i will wager you can probably spell most of those words with four letters. the big night for alex ovechkin. he finds alexander on the backside, but the jets got two goals in less than 12 seconds. a deflected shot to tie the game at 2-2. the capitals lose 3-2. value those two minutes, because in two minutes, tom tasselmyeres lacks a little snow on the horizon. -- >> a little snow on the horizon. another blast of snow showers saturday evening. it does not really get cold

. >> do you think it was a mistake for faragte to press to vicksburg as soon as he did after the victories at new orleans? >> i think he thought it was a mistake but he was under orders to do so. after capturing new orleans he had sent a message to washington implying that he was going to go after mobile next and immediately got a reply from washington to follow his initial orders that gaining control of the mississippi valley was far more important at that stage than mobile so he did it again his own wishes. >> we have plenty of phone callers waiting to ask you questions. let's go to california. hi there. >> caller: hello. >> you're on the air. >> caller: all right. unfortunately i did not get to see the scholar to nominated robert e. lee so i would like to briefly comment on that myself to at least get your response to that. >> robert e. lee in this forum has not been nominated today. >> caller: i would like to play devil's advocate. >> go ahead. >> caller: he simply was the most important figure in the war. let's not forget that he had -- i'll be brief. he had four very important battle

. >> do you think it was a mistake for farragut to press on to vicksburg as soon as he did after the victories at new orleans? >> i think he thought it was a mistake. but he was under orders to do so. in fact, those orders came thick and fast from the naval department. he had after capturing new orleans he had sent a message to washington implying that he was going to go after mobile next. and immediately got a reply from washington to follow his initial orders that gave him control of the mississippi valley was far more important at that stage than mobile. so he went ahead and did it. i think against his own wishes. >> we have plenty of phone callers waiting to ask you questions and make comments. so let's go to california. lompah, cause and cyril is up first. hi there. >> hello. >> you're on the air, cyril. >> oh, all right. unfortunately i did not get to see the scholar who nominated robert e. lee. so i would like to briefly comment on that myself so i could at least get your response to that. >> robert e. lee in this forum anyway has not been nominated today. >> i would like to b

he was captured south of vicksburg. and i loved that. every time i'dsito my grandmother in east texas, she had ame, said, tell me more stories. i suspect some of those stories were actually true. but knowing my family, i also suspect that there was a little bit of 'embellishment in them. we need to focus on history because saving the documents that we have today is important. but it's also important to look at history as a method to kind of heal some wounds and maybe to bind us together a little bit and historical examples that are pertinent today. i was in the legislature for six years and i concluded there are no new public policy issues. it's got different names and different players and different times. but it's the same stuff that's happened before. we can make historical associations with that. and we can show folks who have no interest in history or who ask the question, why do we need to save it, we can say, this is why we need to save it. it's applicable to what occurs today. an example of an issue that boils -- right now, it's

he goes on to serve with distinction at vicksburg. the story that hasn't been told is the impact that this has on mary lincoln and her growing unpopularity as a first lady. okay. so really understand the timing of all this, you have to realize the bull run prisoners are taken in july, yes. but they're not released to tell the story of this demonic jailer until the spring, until january and february of 1862. so what happens is that the news of david, the sadistic jailer brother of mary todd lincoln, that news hits home at the exact same moment as two other disasters of mary's own making are unfolding in the press. so it becomes that perfect storm that crystallizes washington's opinion of their new first lady for the rest of the war. a little bit about these other scandals of mary's own making. the first scandal, of course, involved financial malfeasance. mary, as we now understand, was probably bipolar, she was definitely a shop aholic. so if she's in a depressed phase, she has a tendency to buy things that give her enormous comfort. t

here in virginia, it was at aikens landing on the james river, and in the western theater it was at vicksburg on the mississippi river. and there the physical exchange of prisoners would take place. but the official exchange would take place later when the two cartels had negotiated the release. so where do these union and confederate prisoners go until they are formally exchanged? well, they will go to what are called parole camps. this is an image of the largest parole camp in the eastern theater known as camp parole in annapolis, maryland. this is a prison camp for union soldiers, but their guards are their own men. they are guarded by union sentries. so it was essentially each side's responsibility to ensure that their own men would not violate their paroles. and the confederacy had several parole camps as well. if any of you are from the annapolis region and you've driven through it, there's a neighborhood there called parole. it is named after this particular camp. annapolis region and you've driven through it, there's a neighborhood there called parole. it is named after this particula

caller: yes this is vicksburg michigan. host: my fault, and sorry.aller: i was listening to these people making comments about big cities. i sit here in between chicago and detroit. talk about two wasted cities. i really dare to go into them because they are so bad. as far as the president -- how many times has he taken his family to church since he has been in office compared to most presidents? i do not know. i have listened on the phone to three democrats -- and the first republican for a while. but you have a good day. host: you have a good day as well. talking about the state of michigan here, which has its primary a week from tuesday. a shot of mitt romney and his father -- in an old political closer in the background, very much on the candidate's mind, they're right. as he campaigned in his home state of michigan. that is in the "boston sunday globe." back to the "washington post" today. full coverage of a shot of nuking bridge getting a hug from his granddaughter -- of a shot of newt gingrich getting a hug from his granddaughter. the headline