Why did the Union victories at Vicksburg and Gettysburg mark a turning point in the war?

1 Answer
May 15, 2017

These two victories within days of each other marked the downward turn of the war for the Confederacy.

Explanation:

The fall of Vicksburg marked the completion of the Anaconda plan of the Union. The Union now controlled the entire Mississippi River.
Supplies and troops from Texas and Arkansas could no longer reach the Confederate forces fighting in the East and Western theaters. Worse no war supplies from Europe could reach the Confederacy through Mexico and across the Mississippi. Rifles ammunition, artillery shells, and medical supplies could no longer be imported from Europe.

The South could not fight effectively without the supplies that had been coming across the Mississippi. The fall of Vicksburg was a major turning point for the Confederacy.

The defeat at Gettysburg ended the south's only chance of a military victory in the Civil War. After Gettysburg the Confederacy would be totally on the defensive. i only hope for the Confederacy was that the north would get tired of the war and quit. Before Gettysburg the South always had the threat of attacking the north and taking Washington DC.

Gettysburg was a major turning point for the Confederacy. The north no longer had to worry about an invasion of the North all of the resources of the North could be focused on wearing down the Confederacy's ability to fight. The war of attrition would end at Petersburg.

The fall of Vicksburg and the defeat at Gettysburg in July 1863 ended any hope of the Confederacy being able to win the Civil War.