"In Early Struggles for Vicksburg, Tim Smith covers the first phase of the Vicksburg Campaign (October 1862-July, 1863), involving perhaps the most wide-ranging and complex series of efforts. The operations that took place from late October to the end of December 1862 covered six states, consisted of four intertwined mini-campaigns, and saw the involvement of everything from cavalry raids to naval operations in addition to pitched land battles. This fall/winter campaign that marked the first of the major efforts to reach Vicksburg was the epitome of the by-the-book concepts of military theory of the day. This first major phase saw Grant, in a newly promoted position as Major-General of Volunteers, working off what he had learned at West Point and from his superior Henry W. Halleck, then the Commanding General of the US Army. Yet he soon realized that the quintessential components of by-the-book warfare ultimately did not work, at least not here in Mississippi. That was because Grant's counterpart John C. Pemberton also clearly utilized the by-the-book defensive tactics to parry Grant's various threats. It was war done the way academics would want it done, but Grant figured out quickly that the books did not always have the answers, and he adapted his approach thereafter"-- Provided by publisher.

“I Suppose You Contemplate the Occupation of Vicksburg” --“Events Are Gathering Near” -- “I Think We Are Started to Vicksburg” -- “Somethings Going to be Did” -- “I Am Compelled to Fall Back for the Defense of Vicksburg” -- “Outwitted at the Tallahatchie” -- “A Change in Program Has Taken Place” -- “The Meshes of Fate Are Encircling the Unconscious Federals” -- “Like a Thunderbolt from a Clear Sky" -- “We Have Made a Clean Sweep of the Federals” -- “Old Santa Claus Missed Us Entirely” -- “From All Accounts We Are to Have a Grand Fight at Vicksburg” -- “They Had Us Just Where They Wanted Us” -- “The Trapper Was Trapped."