Changes

==Western Theater==

==Western Theater==

In the west, the major challenge facing the Union armies was the capture of Vicksburg and the seizure of control of the Mississippi River. Initially, the Federals faced the same problems of divided command that had plagued armies in the east. Major General [[Ulysses S. Grant]], with over 60,000 men, remained in western Tennessee guarding communication lines. Brigadier General Don Carlos Buell’s army of 56,000, after containing Confederate General Braxton Bragg’s invasion of Kentucky, had been taken over by Major General William S. Rosecrans, whose hard-won victory at Murfreesboro at the end of 1862 had nevertheless immobilized the Army of the Cumberland for nearly half a year. To the south, Union forces under the command of Major General Nathaniel P. Banks controlled New Orleans as part of the Department of the Gulf. Coordinating the movement of all these forces would prove a true leadership challenge.  

In the west, the major challenge facing the Union armies was the capture of Vicksburg and the seizure of control of the Mississippi River. Initially, the Federals faced the same problems of divided command that had plagued armies in the east. Major General [[Ulysses S. Grant]], with over 60,000 men, remained in western Tennessee guarding communication lines. Brigadier General Don Carlos Buell’s army of 56,000, after containing Confederate General [[Braxton Bragg]]’s invasion of Kentucky, had been taken over by Major General William S. Rosecrans, whose hard-won victory at Murfreesboro at the end of 1862 had nevertheless immobilized the Army of the Cumberland for nearly half a year. To the south, Union forces under the command of Major General Nathaniel P. Banks controlled New Orleans as part of the Department of the Gulf. Coordinating the movement of all these forces would prove a true leadership challenge.  

        

        

Late in 1862 President Lincoln and Secretary of War [[Edwin M. Stanton]] worked out their own plans to accomplish the fall of Vicksburg, however without coordinating that plan effectively with their senior military commanders. They wrote somewhat vague orders for a simultaneous advance north from New Orleans and south from Tennessee. General Banks was to command the move northward from New Orleans, and command of the southbound expedition was to go to Major General John A. McClernand. Both were relatively untried as Army commanders. They were also volunteer officers who's profession before the war was in the halls of Congress; as professional politicians they often dabbled in intrigue to gain favors. Further, McClernand was to operate within Grant’s department but independently of him, often a recipe for trouble. When General Halleck found out about the Lincoln-Stanton plan, he persuaded the President to put Grant in command of the southbound expedition and to make McClernand one of his subordinates.

Late in 1862 President Lincoln and Secretary of War [[Edwin M. Stanton]] worked out their own plans to accomplish the fall of Vicksburg, however without coordinating that plan effectively with their senior military commanders. They wrote somewhat vague orders for a simultaneous advance north from New Orleans and south from Tennessee. General Banks was to command the move northward from New Orleans, and command of the southbound expedition was to go to Major General John A. McClernand. Both were relatively untried as Army commanders. They were also volunteer officers who's profession before the war was in the halls of Congress; as professional politicians they often dabbled in intrigue to gain favors. Further, McClernand was to operate within Grant’s department but independently of him, often a recipe for trouble. When General Halleck found out about the Lincoln-Stanton plan, he persuaded the President to put Grant in command of the southbound expedition and to make McClernand one of his subordinates.