Terry Winschel, former chief historian at Vicksburg National Military Park, weaves a professional lifetime of personal experience and scholarship into this remarkable presentation. He covers major aspects of what many consider to have been the decisive military achievement of the war — the capture of “The Gibraltar of the Confederacy.” How good was General Grant’s generalship? Was Confederate Lieutenant General John Pemberton really as inept as we have been led to believe? Which battle of the months-long campaign was decisive and sealed the fate of the city? How did the civilians deal with the lack of food and supplies? What role did cavalry play in this critical campaign? Winschel discusses these issues and many others in his presentation.
Speakers Expertise:
Terrence Winschel is a retired long-time historian for the Vicksburg National Military Park. Over the course of his career, Winschel served as a licensed battlefield guide at Gettysburg and has authored numerous articles and books on the Civil War, including
The Civil War Diary of the Common Soldier, Triumph and Defeat: the Vicksburg Campaign and
Vicksburg: Fall of the Confederate Gibraltar. Among his diverse duties at the Vicksburg National Military Park were managing the park’s extensive archival, photographic and map collections, the park library and assisting researchers. Winschel continues to lead tours of the Vicksburg and other battlefields across the country, writes a weekly column for the local newspaper on the Vicksburg campaign and authors articles for numerous periodicals.
