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Vicksburg campaign

The Vicksburg campaign was a series of maneuvers and battles in the Western Theater of the American Civil War directed against Vicksburg, Mississippi, a fortress city that dominated the last Confederate-controlled section of the Mississippi River. The Union Army of the Tennessee under Major General Ulysses S. Grant gained control of the river by capturing this stronghold and defeating Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton's forces stationed there.

The campaign consisted of many important naval operations, troop maneuvers, failed initiatives, and eleven distinct battles from December 26, 1862, to July 4, 1863. Military historians divide the campaign into two formal phases: operations against Vicksburg (December 1862 – January 1863) and Grant's operations against Vicksburg (March – July 1863).

Grant initially planned a two-pronged approach in which half of his army, under Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, would advance to the Yazoo River and attempt to reach Vicksburg from the northeast, while Grant took the remainder of the army down the Mississippi Central Railroad. Both of these initiatives failed. Grant conducted a number of "experiments" or expeditions—Grant's bayou operations—that attempted to enable waterborne access to the Mississippi south of Vicksburg's artillery batteries. All five of these initiatives failed as well. Finally, Union gunboats and troop transport boats ran the batteries at Vicksburg and met up with Grant's men who had marched overland in Louisiana. On April 29 and April 30, 1863, Grant's army crossed the Mississippi and landed at Bruinsburg, Mississippi. An elaborate series of demonstrations and diversions fooled the Confederates and the landings occurred without opposition. Over the next 17 days, Grant maneuvered his army inland and won five battles, captured the state capital of Jackson, Mississippi, and assaulted and laid siege to Vicksburg.

After Pemberton's army surrendered on July 4 (one day after the Confederate defeat at Gettysburg), and when Port Hudson surrendered to Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks on July 9, Texas and Arkansas were effectively cut off from the Confederacy, and the Mississippi River was once again open for northern commerce to reach the Gulf of Mexico, and as a supply line for the Union Army. Grant's Vicksburg campaign is studied as a masterpiece of military operations and a major turning point of the war.

Military situation
Vicksburg was strategically vital to the Confederates. Jefferson Davis said, "Vicksburg is the nail head that holds the South's two halves together." While in their hands, it blocked Union navigation down the Mississippi; together with control of the mouth of the Red River and of Port Hudson to the south, it allowed communication with the states west of the river, upon which the Confederates depended extensively for horses, cattle and reinforcements. The natural defenses of the city were ideal, earning it the nickname "The Gibraltar of the Confederacy". It was located on a high bluff overlooking a horseshoe-shaped bend in the river, De Soto Peninsula, making it almost impossible to approach by ship. North and east of Vicksburg was the Mississippi Delta (sometimes known as the Yazoo Delta), an area 200 miles (320 km) north to south and up to 50 miles (80 km) across, which has been described by geographer Warren E. Grabau as an "astonishingly complex network of intersecting waterways", some of which were navigable by small steamboats. The regions between modern rivers and bayous formed closed basins called backswamps, of which Grabau judged, "Whether permanently flooded or not, the backswamps were, for all practical purposes, untamed wildernesses, utterly impassable by a man on horseback or by any form of wheeled vehicle, and very difficult even for a man on foot." About twelve miles (19 km) up the Yazoo River were Confederate batteries and entrenchments at Haynes Bluff. The Louisiana land west of Vicksburg was also difficult, with many streams and poor country roads, widespread winter flooding, and it was on the opposite side of the river from the fortress.

The city had been under Union naval attack before. Admiral David Farragut moved up the river after his capture of New Orleans and on May 18, 1862, demanded the surrender of Vicksburg. Farragut had insufficient troops to force the issue, and he moved back to New Orleans. He returned with a flotilla in June 1862, but their attempts (June 26–28) to bombard the fortress into surrender failed. They shelled Vicksburg throughout July and fought some minor battles with a few Confederate vessels in the area, but their forces were insufficient to attempt a landing, and they abandoned attempts to force the surrender of the city. Farragut investigated the possibility of bypassing the fortified cliffs by digging a canal across the neck of the river's bend, the De Soto Peninsula. On June 28, Brig. Gen. Thomas Williams, attached to Farragut's command, began digging work on the canal by employing local laborers and some soldiers. Many of the men fell victim to tropical diseases and heat exhaustion, and the work was abandoned by July 24. (Williams was killed two weeks later in the Battle of Baton Rouge).

In the fall of 1862, Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck was promoted from command of the Western Theater to General-in-Chief of all Union armies. On November 23, he indicated to Grant his preference for a major move down the Mississippi to Vicksburg; in Halleck's style, he left considerable initiative to design a campaign, an opportunity that the pugnacious Grant seized. Halleck has received criticism for not moving promptly overland from Memphis, Tennessee, to seize Vicksburg during the summer when he was in command on the scene. He believed that the Navy could capture the fortress on its own, not knowing that the naval force was insufficiently manned with ground troops to finish the job. What might have achieved success in the summer of 1862 was no longer possible by November because the Confederates had amply reinforced the garrison by that time. Also, reliable navigation on the river was seasonal, and the natural fall in the level of the river during the fall and winter months limited the utility of shipping, the usable draft of riverboats, and the quantity of men, supplies, and equipment, they could transport.

Grant's army marched south down the Mississippi Central Railroad, making a forward base at Holly Springs. He planned a two-pronged assault in the direction of Vicksburg. His principal subordinate, Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, was to advance down the river with four divisions (about 32,000 men) and Grant would continue with the remaining forces (about 40,000) down the railroad line to Oxford, where he would wait for developments, hoping to lure the Confederate army out of the city to attack him in the vicinity of Grenada, Mississippi.

On the Confederate side, forces in Mississippi were under the command of Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton, an officer from Pennsylvania who chose to fight for the South. Pemberton had approximately 12,000 men in Vicksburg and Jackson, Mississippi, and Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn had approximately 24,000 at Grenada.

Meanwhile, political forces were at work. President Abraham Lincoln had long recognized the importance of Vicksburg; he wrote "Vicksburg is the key. ...The war can never be brought to a close until that key is in our pocket." Lincoln also envisioned a two-pronged offensive, but one up and down the river. Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand, a War Democrat politician, had convinced Lincoln that he could lead an army down the river and take Vicksburg. Lincoln approved his proposal and wanted Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks to advance up river from New Orleans at the same time. McClernand began organizing regiments, sending them to Memphis. Back in Washington, D.C., Halleck was nervous about McClernand and gave Grant control of all troops in his own department. McClernand's troops were split into two corps, one under McClernand, the other under Sherman. McClernand complained but to no avail. Grant appropriated his troops, one of several maneuvers in a private dispute within the Union Army between Grant and McClernand that continued throughout the campaign.

Battles in the operations against Vicksburg, December 1862 – January 1863
The "operations against Vicksburg" phase of the Vicksburg campaign comprises the following battles:

Chickasaw Bayou (December 26–29, 1862)
Sherman disembarked with three divisions at Johnson's Plantation on the Yazoo River to approach the Vicksburg defenses from the northeast. On December 27, the Federals pushed their lines forward through the swamps toward the Walnut Hills, which were strongly defended. On December 28, several futile attempts were made to get around these defenses. On December 29, Sherman ordered a frontal assault, which was repulsed with heavy casualties, and then withdrew.

During this period, the overland half of Grant's offensive was failing. His lines of communication were disrupted by raids by Van Dorn and Brig. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, who destroyed his large supply depot at Holly Springs. Unable to subsist his army without these supplies, Grant abandoned his overland advance.

In early January, McClernand arrived at Memphis with the corps he had recruited (the XIII Corps under Brig. Gen. George W. Morgan) and commenced his operation down the Mississippi. On January 4, he ordered Sherman to attach his XV Corps to the expedition, calling his combined 32,000-man force the Army of the Mississippi. This was a direct provocation against Grant, but Sherman acceded to the senior officer. Sherman suggested beginning with a combined land and naval movement against Fort Hindman, on the Arkansas River at Arkansas Post, 50 miles up the Arkansas from its confluence with the Mississippi, a base from which Confederate gunboats were attacking Union shipping on the river. The expedition started without notifying Grant.

Arkansas Post (January 9–11, 1863)
Union boats under Rear Adm. David Dixon Porter began landing troops near Arkansas Post in the evening of January 9. The troops started up river towards Fort Hindman. Sherman's corps overran Confederate trenches, and the defenders retreated to the protection of the fort and adjacent rifle-pits. Porter, on January 10, moved his fleet towards Fort Hindman and bombarded it, withdrawing at dusk. Union artillery fired on the fort from positions across the river on January 11, and the infantry moved into position for an attack. Union ironclads commenced shelling the fort and Porter's fleet passed it to cut off any retreat. As a result of this envelopment, and the attack by Morgan's troops, the Confederate command surrendered in the afternoon. Although Union losses were high and the victory did not contribute to the capture of Vicksburg, it did eliminate one more impediment to Union shipping on the Mississippi.

Grant was not happy to learn that McClernand had conducted the operation without his approval, considering it a distraction from his main objective of Vicksburg, but since it had been successful and his ally Sherman had suggested it, he took no punitive action. However, he ordered McClernand back to the Mississippi and assumed personal command of the campaign on January 13 at Milliken's Bend, 15 miles northwest of Vicksburg.

Grant's bayou operations, January–March 1863
That winter, Grant conducted a series of initiatives to approach and capture Vicksburg, termed "Grant's bayou operations". Their general theme was to use or construct alternative waterways so that troops could be positioned within striking distance of Vicksburg, without requiring a direct approach on the Mississippi under the Confederate guns.

Grant's Canal
The Williams Canal across De Soto Peninsula had been abandoned by Adm. Farragut and Brig. Gen. Williams in July 1862, but it had the potential to offer a route downriver that bypassed Vicksburg's guns. In late January 1863, Sherman's men, at the urging of Grant—who was advised by the navy that President Lincoln liked the idea—resumed digging. Sherman derisively called the work "Butler's Ditch" (since it was Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler who had sent Williams upriver to do the work), which was barely 6 feet wide by 6 feet deep. Grant, undoubtedly influenced by Lincoln's continual inquiries as to the status of the canal, ordered Sherman to expand the canal to 60 feet wide and 7 feet deep and the effort became known as Grant's Canal. It was not properly engineered based upon the hydrology of the Mississippi River, however, and a sudden rise in the river broke through the dam at the head of the canal and flooded the area. The canal began to fill up with back water and sediment. In a desperate effort to rescue the project, two huge steam-driven dipper dredges, Hercules and Sampson, attempted to clear the channel, but the dredges were exposed to Confederate artillery fire from the bluffs at Vicksburg and driven away. By late March, work on the canal was abandoned. (Remnants of about 200 yards of Grant's Canal are maintained by the Vicksburg National Military Park in Louisiana).

Lake Providence expedition
Grant ordered Brig. Gen. James B. McPherson to construct a canal of several hundred yards from the Mississippi to Lake Providence, northwest of the city. This would allow passage to the Red River, through Bayous Baxter and Macon, and the Tensas and Black Rivers. Reaching the Red River, Grant's force could join with Banks at Port Hudson. McPherson reported that the connection was navigable on March 18, but the few "ordinary Ohio River boats" that had been sent to Grant for navigation of the bayous could only transport 8,500 men. The boats through Lake Providence increased the Union soldiers to a force of 30,000 and provided the field commander the flexibility of a 4:1 advantage, potentially more than enough to ensure a successful siege of Port Hudson. Although this was the only one of the bayou expeditions to successfully bypass the Vicksburg defenses, historian Ed Bearss diminishes this exploit as the "Lake Providence Boondoggle".

Yazoo Pass expedition
The next attempt was to get to the high ground of the loess bluffs above Hayne's Bluff and below Yazoo City by blowing up the Mississippi River levee near Moon Lake, some 150 miles (240 km) above Vicksburg, near Helena, Arkansas, and following the Yazoo Pass (an old route from Yazoo City to Memphis, which was curtailed by the 1856 levee construction that sealed off the Pass from the Mississippi River to Moon Lake) into the Coldwater River, then to the Tallahatchie River, and finally into the Yazoo River at Greenwood, Mississippi. The dikes were blown up on February 3, beginning what was called the Yazoo Pass Expedition. Ten Union boats, under the command of Lt. Cmdr. Watson Smith, with army troops under the command of Brig. Gen. Benjamin Prentiss, began moving through the pass on February 7. But low-hanging trees destroyed anything on the gunboats above deck and Confederates felled more trees to block the way. These delays allowed the Confederates time to quickly construct Fort Pemberton near the confluence of the Tallahatchie and Yalobusha Rivers near Greenwood, Mississippi, which repulsed the naval force on March 11, March 14, and March 16. The Union effort collapsed in early April.

Steele's Bayou expedition
Admiral Porter started an effort on March 14 to go up the Yazoo Delta via Steele's Bayou, just north of Vicksburg, to Deer Creek. This would outflank Fort Pemberton and allow landing troops between Vicksburg and Yazoo City. Confederates once again felled trees in their path, and willow reeds fouled the boats' paddlewheels. This time the Union boats became immobilized, and Confederate cavalry and infantry threatened to capture them. Sherman sent infantry assistance to repel the Confederates bedeviling Porter, but Porter's approach was abandoned as too difficult.

Duckport Canal
Grant's final attempt was to dig another canal from Duckport Landing to Walnut Bayou, aimed at getting lighter boats past Vicksburg. By the time the canal was almost finished, on April 6, water levels were declining, and none but the lightest of flatboats could get through. Grant abandoned this canal and started planning anew.

From December through March, including Chickasaw Bayou and the Mississippi Central advance, seven initiatives, or "experiments", by Grant had failed. Grant claimed in his memoirs that he had undertaken these experiments primarily to keep his troops busy during the flooded and disease-laden winter months and that he had had no expectation of success. This claim is contradicted by correspondence from Grant at the time.

Plan for the 1863 campaign and initial movements
All of the bayou operations were failures, but Grant was well known for his stubborn determination and would not quit. His final option was bold but risky: March the Union army down the west side of the Mississippi, cross the river south of Vicksburg, and either attack Vicksburg from the south and the east or join forces with Banks, capture Port Hudson, and then together reduce Vicksburg. Porter would have to sneak past the guns to get sufficient gunboats and transport ships south of the city. Once they had completed the downstream passage, they would not be able to return past Vicksburg's guns because the river current would slow them too much.

On March 29, McClernand set his troops to work building bridges and corduroy roads. They filled in the swamps in their way as well, and by April 17 they had a rough, tortuous 70-mile (110 km) road from Milliken's Bend to the proposed river crossing at Hard Times, Louisiana, below Vicksburg.

On April 16, a clear night with no moon, Porter sent seven gunboats and three empty troop transports loaded with stores to run the bluff, taking care to minimize noise and lights. But the preparations were ineffective. Confederate sentries sighted the boats, and the bluff exploded with massive artillery fire. Fires were set along the banks to improve visibility. The Union gunboats answered back. Porter observed that the Confederates mainly hit the high parts of his boats, reasoned that they could not depress their guns, and had them hug the east shore, right under Confederate cannon, so close he could hear their commanders giving orders, shells flying overhead. The fleet survived with little damage; thirteen men were wounded and none killed. The Henry Clay was disabled and burned at the water's edge. On April 22, six more boats loaded with supplies made the run; one boat did not make it, though no one was killed. The crew floated downstream on the boat's remnants.

The final piece of Grant's strategy was to divert Pemberton's attention from the river crossing site that the Union troops would use. Grant chose two operations: a feint by Sherman against Snyder's Bluff, Mississippi, north of Vicksburg (see the Battle of Snyder's Bluff below), and a daring cavalry raid through central Mississippi by Col. Benjamin Grierson, known as Grierson's Raid. Both were eminently successful. Of Sherman's feint, Grant writes:"My object was to compel Pemberton to keep as much force about Vicksburg as I could, until I could secure a good footing on high land east of the river. The move was eminently successful and, as we afterwards learned, created great confusion about Vicksburg and doubts about our real design."Grierson was able to draw out significant Confederate forces to chase him, and Pemberton's defenses were dispersed too far around the state. (Pemberton was also wary of Nathaniel Banks's impending advance up the river from Baton Rouge to threaten Port Hudson.). Of Grierson's raid, Grant writes:"It was at Port Gibson I first heard through a Southern paper of the complete success of Colonel Grierson, who was making a raid through central Mississippi...This raid was of great importance, for Grierson had attracted the attention of the enemy from the main movement against Vicksburg."

Union
Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Union Army of the Tennessee started the campaign with about 44,500 men, which grew by July to 75,000. The army was composed of five corps: the XIII Corps, under Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand; the XV Corps, under Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman; the XVII Corps, under Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson; a three-division detachment of the XVI Corps, under Maj. Gen. Cadwallader C. Washburn; and a detachment from the District of Northeast Louisiana, under Brig. Gen. Elias S. Dennis. The IX Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. John G. Parke, joined the army in mid-June.

Confederate
Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton's Confederate Army of Mississippi, approximately 30,000 men, consisted of five divisions, under Maj. Gens. William W. Loring, Carter L. Stevenson, John H. Forney, Martin L. Smith, and John S. Bowen.

General Joseph E. Johnston's forces in Raymond and Jackson, Mississippi, about 6,000 men, were elements of his Department of the West, including the brigades of Brig. Gen. John Gregg, and Col. Peyton H. Colquitt. Loring's division had joined Johnston on May 17 after the retreat from Champion Hill and Johnston was further reinforced by Brig. Gen. William H.T. Walker's division, and the cavalry division of Brig. Gen. William Hicks Jackson in late May, followed by the divisions of Maj. Gens. John C. Breckinridge and Samuel G. French in June, bringing his total strength to about 36,000 when Vicksburg surrendered.

Battles in Grant's operations against Vicksburg, April – July 1863
The "Grant's operations against Vicksburg" phase of the Vicksburg campaign comprises the following battles:

Grand Gulf (April 29, 1863)
Admiral Porter led seven ironclads in an attack on the fortifications and batteries at Grand Gulf, Mississippi, with the intention of silencing the Confederate guns and then securing the area with troops of McClernand's XIII Corps who were on the accompanying transports and barges. The attack by the seven ironclads began at 8 a.m. and continued until about 1:30 p.m. During the fight, the ironclads moved within 100 yards of the Confederate guns and silenced the lower batteries of Fort Wade. The Confederate upper batteries at Fort Cobun remained out of reach and continued to fire. Due to the strong Confederate resistance, Grant and Porter decided it was not feasible to make an amphibious landing at Grand Gulf, but later landed at Bruinsburg, Mississippi, instead. The Union ironclads (one of which, the Tuscumbia, had been put out of action) and the transports temporarily drew off, but later that afternoon, while the angle of the sun interfered with Confederate aiming, Porter again sent his ships to Grand Gulf. While the ironclads screened them, the steamboats and barges ran the gauntlet. Meanwhile, Grant marched his men overland across Coffee Point to below the Gulf. After the transports had passed Grand Gulf, they embarked the troops at Disharoon's plantation and disembarked them on the Mississippi shore at Bruinsburg, below Grand Gulf. Grant landed 17,000 soldiers there, the largest amphibious operation in American military history until the Invasion of Normandy. The men immediately began marching overland towards Port Gibson, Mississippi, where, on May 1, they fought the Battle of Port Gibson with Bowen's Confederates. Bowen's right flank was driven in, and Bowen's men conducted a fighting withdrawal from the field. On May 3, the Confederates abandoned the fortifications at Grand Gulf. The Confederates had won a hollow victory, since the loss at Grand Gulf caused just a slight change in Grant's offensive.

Snyder's Bluff (April 29 – May 1)
To ensure that troops would not be withdrawn to Grand Gulf to assist Confederates there, a combined Union army-navy force feigned an attack on Snyder's Bluff. After noon on April 29, Lt. Cdr. K. Randolph Breese, with his eight gunboats and ten transports carrying Maj. Gen. Francis P. Blair's division, inched up the Yazoo River to the mouth of Chickasaw Bayou where they spent the night. At 9 a.m., the next morning, the force, minus one gunboat, continued upriver to Drumgould's Bluff and engaged the enemy batteries. During the fighting, Choctaw suffered more than fifty hits, but no casualties occurred. Around 6 p.m., the troops disembarked and marched along Blake's Levee toward the guns. As they neared Drumgould's Bluff, a battery opened on them, creating havoc and casualties. The Union advance halted and, after dark, the men reembarked on the transports. The next morning, transports disembarked other troops. The swampy terrain and enemy heavy artillery fire forced them to retire. The gunboats opened fire again, about 3 p.m. on May 1, causing some damage. Later, the boats' fire slackened and stopped altogether after dark. Sherman had received orders to land his troops at Milliken's Bend, so the gunboats returned to their anchorages at the mouth of the Yazoo.

Port Gibson (May 1)
Grant's army began marching inland from Bruinsburg. Advancing on the Rodney Road towards Port Gibson, they ran into Confederate outposts after midnight and skirmished with them for around three hours. After 3 a.m., the fighting stopped. Union forces advanced on the Rodney Road and a plantation road at dawn. At 5:30 a.m., the Confederates engaged the Union advance and the battle ensued. Federals forced the Confederates to fall back. The Confederates established new defensive positions at different times during the day, but they could not stop the Union onslaught and left the field in the early evening. This defeat demonstrated that the Confederates were unable to defend the Mississippi River line, and the Federals had secured their beachhead.

At this point, Grant faced a decision. His original orders were to capture Grand Gulf and then proceed south to link up with Banks and reduce Port Hudson, after which their combined armies would return and capture Vicksburg. Unfortunately for Grant, such a course would put him under the command of the more senior major general and the credit for any success in the theater would go to Banks. Since Banks was occupied with operations on the Red River and had informed Grant that he was not ready to begin operations against Port Hudson within the next few days, Grant decided to move on his own against Vicksburg. He sent a message to Halleck about his intentions, knowing that it would take as many as eight days for Washington to receive the message and respond.

After the Union army seized the crossing at Grindstone Ford, any Confederate forces between the Big Bayou Pierre and the Big Black River were compromised. Realizing this, Bowen evacuated Grand Gulf and proceeded with all speed to Hankinson's Ford across the Big Black, barely escaping the Union trap. Grant's intention at this time was to move north over this same route and advance directly on Vicksburg. However, scouting parties that he sent out found that Pemberton had good defensive positions to the south of the city. Instead, he decided to break the city's supply line by seizing the railroad from Jackson to Vicksburg. He gave orders for his three corps (Sherman having arrived across the river) to advance over three separate routes to attack the railroad at Edwards Station (the westernmost objective, with McClernand's corps), Clinton (easternmost, with McPherson's) and Midway Station (center, with Sherman's).

Raymond (May 12)
On May 10, Pemberton ordered all reinforcements arriving at Jackson to march to Raymond, 20 miles (32 km) to the southwest. Brig. Gen. John Gregg's overstrength brigade, having endured a grueling march from Port Hudson, Louisiana, began marching to Raymond the next morning, arriving late in the afternoon of May 11. On May 12, Gregg's brigade moved to ambush a Union raiding party at Fourteen Mile Creek. The raiding party turned out to be Maj. Gen. John A. Logan's Division of the XVII Corps. Gregg decided to dispute the crossing of Fourteen Mile Creek and arrayed his men and artillery accordingly. As Logan's men approached, the Confederates opened fire, initially causing heavy casualties. Some Union troops broke, but Logan rallied a force to hold the line. Confederate troops attacked the line but were forced to retire. Additional Union troops arrived and counterattacked. Heavy fighting ensued that continued for six hours, but the overwhelming Union force prevailed. Gregg's men left the field. Although they lost the battle, they had held up a much superior Union force for a day. General Gregg, under orders to withdraw to Jackson in the face of a superior force, withdrew five miles (8 km) in the direction of Jackson to Mississippi Springs, Mississippi. This retrograde movement exposed the Southern Railroad of Mississippi to Union forces, thus severing the lifeline of Vicksburg.

Despite McPherson's victory, the presence of Confederate forces attacking Grant's right flank caused him to reconsider his plan. He learned that Gen. Joseph E. Johnston was due in Jackson with reinforcements within the next couple of days, and there was a rumor that Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard would also arrive on the scene. In this situation, the Union army would be between enemy forces on each flank. Therefore, he chose to deal with the threat from the east first and ordered Sherman and McPherson to seize Jackson.

Jackson (May 14)
On May 9, Gen. Johnston received a dispatch from the Confederate Secretary of War directing him to "proceed at once to Mississippi and take chief command of the forces in the field". When he arrived in Jackson on May 13 from Middle Tennessee, he learned that two army corps—Sherman's and McPherson's—were advancing on Jackson and that Gregg had only about 6,000 troops available to defend the city. Johnston ordered the evacuation of Jackson, but Gregg was to defend Jackson until the evacuation was completed. By 10 a.m., both Union army corps were near Jackson and had engaged the enemy. Rain, Confederate resistance, and poor defenses prevented heavy fighting until around 11 a.m., when Union forces attacked in numbers and slowly but surely pushed the enemy back. In mid-afternoon, Johnston informed Gregg that the evacuation was complete and that he should disengage and follow. Soon after, the Union troops entered Jackson and had a celebration hosted by Grant, who had been traveling with Sherman's corps, in the Bowman House. They then burned part of the town, destroyed numerous factories, and cut the railroad connections with Vicksburg. Johnston's evacuation is seen as a mistake because he could, by late on May 14, have had 11,000 troops at his disposal and by the morning of May 15, another 4,000. The fall of the Mississippi state capital was a blow to Confederate morale. Having broken the rail links, Grant temporarily abandoned the city to allow his troops to concentrate on Vicksburg.

Johnston retreated with most of his army up the Canton Road, but he ordered Pemberton to leave Edwards Station and attack the Federals at Clinton. Pemberton and his generals felt that Johnston's plan was dangerous and decided instead to attack the Union supply trains moving from Grand Gulf to Raymond. On May 16, however, Pemberton received another order from Johnston repeating his former directions. Pemberton had already started after the supply trains and was on the Raymond-Edwards Road with his rear at the crossroads one-third mile south of the crest of Champion Hill. Thus, when he ordered a countermarch, his rear, including his many supply wagons, became the vanguard of his force.

Champion Hill (May 16)
On May 16, about 7 a.m., the Union forces engaged the Confederates and the Battle of Champion Hill began. Pemberton's force drew up into a defensive line along a crest of a ridge overlooking Jackson Creek. Pemberton was unaware that one Union column was moving along the Jackson Road against his unprotected left flank. For protection, Pemberton posted Brig. Gen. Stephen D. Lee's men atop Champion Hill where they could watch for the reported Union column moving to the crossroads. Lee spotted the Union troops and they soon saw him. If this force was not stopped, it would cut the Confederates off from their Vicksburg base. Pemberton received warning of the Union movement and sent troops to his left flank. Union forces at the Champion House moved into action and emplaced artillery to begin firing. When Grant arrived at Champion Hill, around 10 a.m., he ordered the attack to begin. By 11:30 a.m., Union forces had reached the Confederate main line and about 1 p.m., they took the crest while the Confederates retreated in disorder. The Federals swept forward, capturing the crossroads and closing the Jackson Road escape route. One of Pemberton's divisions (Bowen's) then counterattacked, pushing the Federals back beyond the Champion Hill crest before their surge came to a halt. Grant then counterattacked, committing forces that had just arrived from Clinton by way of Bolton. Pemberton's men could not stand up to this assault, so he ordered his men from the field to the one escape route still open: the Raymond Road crossing of Bakers Creek. Brig. Gen. Lloyd Tilghman's brigade formed the rearguard, and they held at all costs, including the loss of Tilghman. In the late afternoon, Union troops seized the Bakers Creek Bridge, and by midnight, they occupied Edwards. The Confederates were in full retreat towards Vicksburg.

Big Black River Bridge (May 17)
The Confederate retreat reached Big Black River Bridge the night of May 16–17. Pemberton ordered Brig. Gen. Bowen, with three brigades, to man the fortifications on the east bank of the river and impede any Union pursuit. Three divisions of McClernand's corps moved out from Edwards Station on the morning of May 17. The corps encountered the Confederates behind breastworks and took cover as enemy artillery began firing. Union Brig. Gen. Michael K. Lawler formed his 2nd Brigade, Brig. Gen. Eugene A. Carr's Division, which surged out of a river meander scar, across the front of the Confederate forces, and into the enemy's breastworks, held by Brig. Gen. John C. Vaughn's inexperienced East Tennessee Brigade. Confused and panicked, the Confederates began to withdraw across the Big Black on two bridges: the railroad bridge and the steamboat dock moored athwart the river. As soon as they had crossed, the Confederates set fire to the bridges, preventing close Union pursuit. The fleeing Confederates who arrived in Vicksburg later that day were disorganized. The Union forces captured approximately 1,800 troops at Big Black, a loss that the Confederates could ill afford.

Siege of Vicksburg (May 18 – July 4)
The Union army converged on Vicksburg, trapping Pemberton's force. Grant attempted two assaults to break through the strong Confederate fieldworks: May 19 and May 22. The latter assault initially achieved some success in McClernand's sector, but it was repulsed with 3,200 casualties. Johnston ordered Pemberton to evacuate the city and save his army, but Pemberton thought it impossible to withdraw safely. Johnston planned to attack Grant and relieve Pemberton but was unable to arrange it in time. Grant besieged the Confederate army. On July 4, after six weeks in which the soldiers and civilians of Vicksburg had no food supplies and were bombarded constantly, Pemberton surrendered the city and his army.

In addition to Pemberton at his front, Grant had to be concerned with Confederate forces in his rear. He stationed one division in the vicinity of the Big Black River bridge and another reconnoitered as far north as Mechanicsburg, both to act as a covering force. By June 10, the IX Corps, under Maj. Gen. John G. Parke, was transferred to Grant's command. This corps became the nucleus of a special task force whose mission was to prevent Johnston, gathering his forces at Canton, from interfering with the siege. Sherman was given command of this task force and Brig. Gen. Frederick Steele replaced him at the XV Corps on June 22. Johnston eventually began moving to relieve Pemberton and reached the Big Black River on July 1, but he delayed a potentially difficult encounter with Sherman until it was too late for the Vicksburg garrison, and then fell back to Jackson.

Louisiana operations
During the siege of Vicksburg, three other battles took place in the vicinity:

Milliken's Bend (June 7)
In an effort to cut Grant's supply line during the siege, the Confederates attacked the Milliken's Bend supply area up the Mississippi. This was mainly defended by untrained black troops, who fought with inferior weaponry and finally repelled the Confederates with help from gunboats, although at significant cost; the defenders lost 652 to the Confederate 185.

Goodrich's Landing (June 29–30)
After Union forces began occupying the Louisiana river parishes, thousands of escaped slaves flocked to them. The Federals, therefore, leased some plantations and put the freedmen to work growing cotton or other crops; the proceeds from the sale of the crops helped defray expenses for food, clothing, etc. African American troops were assigned to protect these plantations, releasing other troops to fight. Confederates, determined to recapture some of these freedmen and destroy the crops, undertook an expedition from Gaines's Landing, Arkansas, to Lake Providence. Although the Confederates disrupted these operations, destroyed much property, and captured many supplies and weapons, the raid was only a minor setback for the Union. The Confederates could cause momentary disturbances, but they were unable to effect any lasting changes.

Helena (July 4)
Confederate Lt. Gen. Theophilus H. Holmes's troops attacked Helena, Arkansas, in an attempt to relieve pressure on Vicksburg. Although the Confederates had more troops and did initially capture some of the fortifications, the Union forces repelled them.

Aftermath

Although the Confederate killed and wounded in the battle and siege of Vicksburg were a relatively small 2,872, and Union 4,910, Grant captured his second Confederate army in its entirety (the first being at Fort Donelson): 29,495 surrendered. Most of the Confederates were paroled. The Union also captured significant quantities of artillery, small arms, and ammunition. The full campaign, since March 29, claimed 10,142 Union and 9,091 Confederate killed and wounded.

This was the second major blow to the Confederacy in the summer of 1863. On July 3, Gen. Robert E. Lee's invasion of the North collapsed at Gettysburg. On July 4, the Stars and Stripes rose over Vicksburg. To the Confederates, surrendering on Independence Day was a bitter defeat. Union troops behaved well, mixing with Confederates and giving rations to starving soldiers. Speculators who had been hoarding food for higher prices saw their stores broken open and the contents thrown on the streets for the starving rebels. In his Personal Memoirs, Grant observed, "The men of the two armies fraternized as if they had been fighting for the same cause." But resentments lingered: allegedly tradition holds that the Fourth of July holiday was not celebrated by Vicksburg until World War II. This claim has been challenged because large Fourth of July celebrations were being held by 1907. The most significant result of the campaign was control of the Mississippi River, which the Union obtained completely after Port Hudson, which had been besieged by Banks since May 27, heard news of Vicksburg's fall and surrendered on July 9. The Confederacy was now cut in two; one week later, an unarmed ship arrived in Union-held New Orleans from St. Louis after an uneventful trip down the river. President Lincoln announced, "The Father of Waters again goes unvexed to the sea."

Grant deployed Sherman and 50,000 troops against Johnston's 31,000 in Jackson. Johnston tried to lure Sherman into a frontal assault, but Sherman had seen the results of such at Vicksburg. He demurred and began surrounding the city. Johnston escaped with his army, which was more than Pemberton had achieved, but all of central Mississippi was now under Sherman's control. He used a subsequent operation against Meridian, Mississippi, as a harbinger of the scorched earth tactics he later employed in his March to the Sea through Georgia, and then South Carolina.

One of Grant's actions during the siege was to settle a lingering rivalry. On May 30, General McClernand wrote a self-adulatory note to his troops, claiming much of the credit for the soon-to-be victory. Grant had been waiting six months for him to slip, ever since they clashed early in the campaign, around the Battle of Arkansas Post. Grant finally relieved McClernand on June 18. McClernand's XIII Corps was turned over to Maj. Gen. Edward Ord. In May 1864, McClernand was restored to a command in remote Texas.

Grant was the undisputed victor of the Vicksburg campaign. He was rewarded for his victory with a promotion to major general in the regular army, effective on July 4, 1863. He also received an unusual letter:

"My dear General

I do not remember that you and I ever met personally. I write this now as a grateful acknowledgment for the almost inestimable service you have done the country. I wish to say a word further. When you first reached the vicinity of Vicksburg, I thought you should do, what you finally did—march the troops across the neck, run the batteries with the transports, and thus go below; and I never had any faith, except a general hope that you knew better than I, that the Yazoo Pass expedition, and the like, could succeed. When you got below, and took Port Gibson, Grand Gulf, and vicinity, I thought you should go down the river and join Gen. Banks; and when you turned Northward East of the Big Black, I feared it was a mistake. I now wish to make the personal acknowledgment that you were right, and I was wrong.

Yours very truly,

A. Lincoln"

Grant went on to rescue Union forces besieged at Chattanooga and then replaced Halleck as general in chief of all Union armies, with the recently re-activated rank of lieutenant general. Despite his ultimate success in winning the war, historians have often considered Vicksburg his finest campaign—imaginative, audacious, relentless, and a masterpiece of maneuver warfare. James M. McPherson called Vicksburg "the most brilliant and innovative campaign of the Civil War"; T. Harry Williams described it as "one of the classic campaigns of the Civil War and, indeed, of military history"; and the U.S. Army Field Manual 100–5 (May 1986) called it "the most brilliant campaign ever fought on American soil".

Historian Steven E. Woodworth wrote that Pemberton "had a strong claim to the title of the most hated man in the South, certainly the most hated to wear a Confederate uniform". There were accusations that adequate supplies had been on hand and that it was only his treachery that caused the surrender. Even his friend, Confederate general Richard Taylor, wrote after the war that a large part of the population believed "He had joined the South for the express purpose of betraying it, and this was clearly proven by the fact that he surrendered on the 4th of July, a day sacred to the Yankees." Davis maintained full confidence in Pemberton, pointing out that he would have been severely criticized and denounced if he had not attempted to defend Vicksburg, but had wound up with the same result by trying to do so. Still, Pemberton's unpopularity made it impossible for Davis to assign him another command after he returned to the Confederate army once he was exchanged. Eventually he resigned his rank of Lt. General to receive a commission as lieutenant colonel in command of the artillery defenses of Richmond.

The blame for losing Vicksburg fell not only on John Pemberton, but on the overcautious Joseph E. Johnston. Jefferson Davis said of the defeat, "Yes, from a want of provisions inside and a General outside who wouldn't fight."

title: Vicksburg campaign


text:
MediaWiki talk:Loginprompt

Top

 * New Dec. 30, 2009** I have a similar need. I have an internal company Wiki running MW 1.15 on WampServer 2.0i. I would like to instruct editors to use their first and last names for username log in. I figured it out in earlier versions of the software, but after hours of work I have been unsuccessful. Any help? Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.208.230.145 (talk) 21:33, 29 December 2009 (UTC)
 * I did find that the phrase "You must have cookies enabled to log in to (website)" is in C:\wamp\www\Website\languages\messages\MessagesEn.php at line 903. Changing it does not change the login window.--M-borobob (talk) 15:27, 30 December 2009 (UTC)

I think I should discuss this before I change it. I always thought Special:Userlogin would be unintuitive for new users since it doesn't suggest that they can pick their new login here. I'm thinking of changing the text for the prompt to be something like

 * If you are a new user and wish to create a new account, select a username and password and click Create new account.
 * Returning users need only fill in their account name and password.
 * You must have cookies enabled to log in to Wikipedia.

Dysprosia 13:59, 6 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Maybe some more explanation of why would people want to login and/or create user accounts. Zocky 23:55, 9 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Yes, I think a link to an appropriate help page would be very useful. BTW this should probably be unprotected. -- Tim Starling 00:00, Dec 10, 2003 (UTC)

 * I don't think pages that pertain to the interface should be unprotected. They are too visible even if they are only vandalized for a short period of time. The talk pages are unprotected so anyone can make a suggestion. Although perhaps the process should be a bit clearer (i.e. make a suggestion, notify a sysop somewhere). Dori | Talk 00:42, Dec 10, 2003 (UTC)

Proposal 2

 * If you are a new user, you can create an account by choosing a user name and password, and clicking Create new account. Returning users only need to fill in their user name and password.
 * You must have cookies enabled to log in to Wikipedia. See How to log in if you have trouble.

How's this? Dysprosia 00:44, 10 Dec 2003 (UTC)

 * Made some changes, re-edit if you don't like them. Dori | Talk 00:59, Dec 10, 2003 (UTC)

It's better, but I was thinking more along the lines of:
 * This is the login page for Wikipedia.

 * Although Wikipedia does not require you to create a user account and log in before editing articles, it might be a good idea for several reasons. For more details see [apropriate page].

 * If you are a new user and wish to create a new account:
 * select a username (refer to Username for help on that)
 * type and retype your chosen password
 * if you wish to allow other users to contact you through email and/or wish to have the option to receive a new password in case you forget it, provide your email address below.
 * click Create new account. See How to log in if you have trouble.
 * After creating your account, it might be a good idea to set your preferences. Maybe this should go to the account created page.

 * If you are a returning user:
 * fill in your username
 * type your password
 * if you want to be automatically logged in next time anybody visits wikipedia on this computer, check the Remember my password across sections checkbox.
 * click Log in.

 * If you have forgotten your password, click Mail me a new password. This works only if you have provided your email address. For more details see [appropriate page]

 * note: You must have cookies enabled in your browser to log in to Wikipedia. For more details see [another appropriate page]

The idea is to dumb it down a little - some of this is for newbies, right? The form is also slightly confusing, IMO Zocky 01:01, 10 Dec 2003 (UTC)

 * I don't think it needs to be quite that verbose. You are just reproducing information that they could get to by following one of the links. If the wikipedia users are dumb enough not to be able to follow a link, then perhaps they should no be involved in editing :) Give them some more credit. I don't think there is a need to clutter the interface. Dori | Talk 01:15, Dec 10, 2003 (UTC)

 * It's not about them being dumb, just maybe not that much familiar with the whole accounts/passwords thing. Not everybody has been in the blog scene. And instead making them actually read the whole pages (which most people won't do, anyway), we should just provide all people need to create an account on single page. OTOH, Create new account might make more sense as a separate page than as a part of the login prompt. Zocky 01:22, 10 Dec 2003 (UTC)

What I really want is advertising for Username. It contains some useful information about selecting usernames that I wish more people would read. I'm thinking either indirect, by encouraging users to go to How to log in: "for more information about logging in, visit How to log in", or direct, say another sentence reading: "see [[Wikipedia:Username for information about choosing a username". How about this:

 * For information about creating an account, see how to log in. For tips on choosing a username, see Username. Returning users need only fill in their account name and password.

 * You must have cookies enabled to log in to Wikipedia.

(via edit conflict with Zocky) -- Tim Starling 01:02, Dec 10, 2003 (UTC)

I think a short sentence or two should mention how a new user can login, without referring them out to too many pages. The login prompt shouldn't be too long either.

Proposal 3 (based on Tim's above)
 * If you are creating an account, select a user name and password and click "Create new account". For tips on choosing a user name, see Username, or if you need more information about logging in, see how to log in.
 * Returning users only need to fill in their user name and password.
 * You must have cookies enabled to log in to Wikipedia.

Dysprosia 02:03, 10 Dec 2003 (UTC)

I agree it shouldn't be too long. I don't mind what it says as long it isn't more than a couple of lines. Angela. 06:27, 11 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Any issues with Prop 3? Maybe I should make the edit soon... Dysprosia 08:53, 11 Dec 2003 (UTC)

 * I made some of the same changes. The "need only fill in" sounds weird to me. Also, we should use the same "user name" words as are displayed which is why I removed account. Dori | Talk 14:36, Dec 11, 2003 (UTC)
 * Looks good (Sorry you had to make the same changes!). There's a problem, though - in the Username lit "username" is used consistently, though you are right that in the form it's "user name". What should be done? Dysprosia 21:54, 11 Dec 2003 (UTC)
 * That's probably not as important. I think we should go with the form, but it's not a big deal as it can be understood. I mostly didn't like "account" since it wasn't mentioned anywhere else. Dori | Talk 22:01, Dec 11, 2003 (UTC)
 * Ok, cool :) I'll leave this as the current for a while and will instate the new prompt if no one complains for a while. Dysprosia 22:05, 11 Dec 2003 (UTC)
 * BTW we can change Mediawiki:Yourname to get the "user name" to "username". Dysprosia 22:10, 11 Dec 2003 (UTC)

It seems that one can't create wikilinks in MediaWiki messages. Any way to circumvent this restriction? Dysprosia 07:23, 15 Dec 2003 (UTC) Worked it out, never mind :)

Use a real name? Sounds too much like "use your real name". Could this be reworded?

Oh. This message is too like a commercial advertisement. "It's completely free", "benefits", noooo...I suggest (and this should go below login box)

(I'm not sure about English 'may', may be it should be 'can' or something else) --Ilya 04:16, 20 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Coments on Login text
Hello. the login text is nice. But somebody with a screen resolution lower than 1024x768 will have to scroll down in order to input his/her username and password in the editboxes. I suggest to move the editboxes above the text. Optim 05:41, 15 Jan 2004 (UTC)

 * That's not possible using the Mediawiki namespace. It's something you would have to request at Sourceforge. Angela. 23:54, Jan 15, 2004 (UTC)

Changes
Some of this message is now at MediaWiki:Loginend instead. What used to be MediaWiki:Emailforlost is there too. Angela. 01:07, Jan 31, 2004 (UTC)

68.192.164.253
{{ editprotected} } You must have cookies enabled in order to login to

In use
This page noted: However this is still in use. — xaosflux  Talk 01:46, 2 July 2017 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: MediaWiki talk:Loginprompt


text:
Reinickendorf

Reinickendorf is the twelfth borough of Berlin. It encompasses the northwest of the city area, including the Berlin Tegel Airport, Lake Tegel, spacious settlements of detached houses as well as housing estates like Märkisches Viertel.

Subdivisions
Reinickendorf is split in eleven localities, population in brackets:

 * Reinickendorf (83,467)
 * Tegel (36,697)
 * Konradshöhe (5,960)
 * Heiligensee (18,053)
 * Frohnau (16,540)
 * Hermsdorf (16,644)
 * Waidmannslust (11,027)
 * Lübars (5,137)
 * Wittenau (25,051)
 * Märkisches Viertel (40,447)
 * Borsigwalde (6,749)

District council
The governing body of Reinickendorf is the district council (Bezirksverordnetenversammlung). It has responsibility for passing laws and electing the city government, including the mayor. The most recent district council election was held on 26 September 2021, and the results were as follows:

! colspan=2| Party ! Lead candidate ! Votes ! % ! +/- ! Seats ! +/- ! colspan=3| Valid votes ! 129,440 ! 98.8 ! ! ! ! colspan=3| Invalid votes ! 1,525 ! 1.2 ! ! ! ! colspan=3| Total ! 130,965 ! 100.0 ! ! 55 ! ±0 ! colspan=3| Electorate/voter turnout ! 194,688 ! 67.3 ! 4.4 ! !
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
 * align=left| Michael Wegner
 * 37,514
 * 29.0
 * 6.6
 * 18
 * 3
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Social Democratic Party (SPD)
 * align=left| Uwe Brockhausen
 * 30,823
 * 23.8
 * 2.4
 * 15
 * 2
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)
 * align=left| Güneș Keskin
 * 18,525
 * 14.3
 * 3.9
 * 9
 * 3
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Alternative for Germany (AfD)
 * align=left| Sebastian Maack
 * 12,291
 * 9.5
 * 4.9
 * 6
 * 2
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Free Democratic Party (FDP)
 * align=left| David Jahn
 * 9,473
 * 7.3
 * 0.7
 * 4
 * ±0
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| The Left (LINKE)
 * align=left| Felix Lederle
 * 6,695
 * 5.2
 * 0.2
 * 3
 * ±0
 * colspan=8 bgcolor=lightgrey|
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Tierschutzpartei
 * align=left|
 * 3,639
 * 2.8
 * New
 * 0
 * New
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Free Voters
 * align=left|
 * 2,785
 * 2.2
 * New
 * 0
 * New
 * align=left| The Greys
 * align=left|
 * 2,452
 * 1.9
 * New
 * 0
 * New
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| dieBasis
 * align=left|
 * 1,829
 * 1.4
 * New
 * 0
 * New
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Die PARTEI
 * align=left|
 * 1,825
 * 1.4
 * 0.1
 * 0
 * ±0
 * align=left| Tierschutz hier
 * align=left|
 * 1,080
 * 0.8
 * New
 * 0
 * New
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Ecological Democratic Party
 * align=left|
 * 229
 * 0.2
 * New
 * 0
 * New
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| National Democratic Party
 * align=left|
 * 146
 * 0.1
 * 0.3
 * 0
 * ±0
 * align=left| BÄRLÄ
 * align=left|
 * 134
 * 0.1
 * New
 * 0
 * New
 * New
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| National Democratic Party
 * align=left|
 * 146
 * 0.1
 * 0.3
 * 0
 * ±0
 * align=left| BÄRLÄ
 * align=left|
 * 134
 * 0.1
 * New
 * 0
 * New
 * New
 * 0
 * New
 * colspan=8| Source: Elections Berlin
 * }
 * }

District government
The district mayor (Bezirksbürgermeister) is elected by the Bezirksverordnetenversammlung, and positions in the district government (Bezirksamt) are apportioned based on party strength. Uwe Brockhausen of the SPD was elected mayor on 24 November 2021. Since the 2021 municipal elections, the composition of the district government is as follows:

Twin towns – sister cities
Reinickendorf is twinned with:

 * 🇫🇷 Antony, France (1966)
 * 🇩🇪 Bad Steben, Germany (1988)
 * 🇩🇪 Blomberg, Germany (1990)
 * 🏴 Greenwich (London), England, United Kingdom (1966)
 * 🇮🇱 Kiryat Ata, Israel (1976)
 * 🇩🇪 Melle, Germany (1988)
 * 🇩🇪 Vogelsberg (district), Germany (1964)

Notable people

 * Anne Julia Hagen, Miss Germany 2010
 * Thomas Häßler (born 1966), footballer
 * Reinhard Mey, Musician
 * Andreas Neuendorf, footballer
 * Robert Russ, music producer, Grammy winner 2018
 * Marie Schlei, politician
 * Frank Steffel, politician

title: Reinickendorf


text:
Ailesbury Road

Ailesbury Road (Bóthar Aylesbury in Irish), is a tree-lined avenue in the affluent Dublin 4 area in Dublin, Ireland. It links Sydney Parade Station on Sydney Parade Avenue and the Church of the Sacred Heart at Anglesea Road, Donnybrook. Historically, many embassies and diplomatic residences have been located on the road, including the striking residence of the French Ambassador, the embassy of the People's Republic of China, and the Japanese embassy (before it relocated to the nearby Merrion Centre).

From Ailesbury Road, Shrewsbury Road forms a link to Merrion Road, though Ailesbury Road also meets Merrion Road near its eastern end. Other neighbouring street names include Ailesbury Drive, Ailesbury Park, Ailesbury Gardens and Ailesbury Grove.

Reflecting the high property price tags in the area, Ailesbury Road is the second-most expensive property on the Irish Monopoly board, being one of the two "purple" property squares.

Danish massacre
In 1879, the discovery of the remains of 600 people was made at a mound on Ailesbury Road which is believed to date back to a bloody massacre by the Danes in the 9th to 10th century. The bodies were removed and buried in the nearby Donnybrook Cemetery.

Development
Ailesbury Road was planned in the middle of the 19th century as a residential road in southeast Dublin, within the then Pembroke Township. It was named for George Brudenell-Bruce, 2nd Marquess of Ailesbury, who had married Mary Herbert, a daughter of the Earl of Pembroke. When first built, Ailesbury Road was then the longest straight road in Dublin.

The original design set for houses to be built on this road is evident in numbers 1 through 51 on the eastern end of the road. These are built of red brick and granite, with a uniform flight of granite steps leading to the hall door, and iron railings bordering the front garden. Numbers 1 through 27 inclusive were built by Alderman Meade, whose designs here and elsewhere in Dublin are characterised by circular granite pillars at the entrance gate. His own residence, which he also designed, is now St Michael's School at the Merrion end of the road.

Number 53
The former French embassy and ambassadorial residence at number 53 is one of the most exclusive addresses on the road. Formerly known as Mytilene, No. 53 differs from the "standard" building forms of numbers 1 through 51. It is much larger, detached and standing in a wooded garden, and has twin gates flanked by square granite pillars, with a granite balustrade and wide steps leading to a pillared front entrance. This house is constructed of white bricks with inset designs of black bricks and an ornamental rosette frieze, also made of bricks in the same porcelain finish.

The house was purchased by the French Government in the 1930s and became the residence of the first Minister for France to Ireland, Monsieur Alphand. This remained so until 2008 when the French Government decided to sell off the house with a price tag of €60 million making it the most expensive house ever to be put up for sale in Ireland, just after a house on Shrewsbury (just off Ailesbury Road) that sold in 2005 for €58 million. The transaction did not take place though and the house remains the Residence of the French ambassador to Ireland. It has seen the passing of many French Presidents, from General de Gaulle in 1969 to President François Mitterrand in 1988, President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008 and President François Hollande in 2016.

Amenities
St Michael's College, a voluntary secondary school for boys with an associated primary school co-located, is situated on the road.

title: Ailesbury Road


text:
Flag (linear algebra)

In mathematics, particularly in linear algebra, a flag is an increasing sequence of subspaces of a finite-dimensional vector space V. Here "increasing" means each is a proper subspace of the next (see filtration):
 * $$\{0\} = V_0 \sub V_1 \sub V_2 \sub \cdots \sub V_k = V.$$

The term flag is motivated by a particular example resembling a flag: the zero point, a line, and a plane correspond to a nail, a staff, and a sheet of fabric.

If we write that dimVi = di then we have
 * $$0 = d_0 < d_1 < d_2 < \cdots < d_k = n,$$

where n is the dimension of V (assumed to be finite). Hence, we must have k ≤ n. A flag is called a complete flag if di = i for all i, otherwise it is called a partial flag.

A partial flag can be obtained from a complete flag by deleting some of the subspaces. Conversely, any partial flag can be completed (in many different ways) by inserting suitable subspaces.

The signature of the flag is the sequence (d1, ..., dk).

Bases
An ordered basis for V is said to be adapted to a flag V0 ⊂ V1 ⊂ ... ⊂ Vk if the first di basis vectors form a basis for Vi for each 0 ≤ i ≤ k. Standard arguments from linear algebra can show that any flag has an adapted basis.

Any ordered basis gives rise to a complete flag by letting the Vi be the span of the first i basis vectors. For example, the  in Rn is induced from the standard basis (e1, ..., en) where ei denotes the vector with a 1 in the ith entry and 0's elsewhere. Concretely, the standard flag is the sequence of subspaces:
 * $$0 < \left\langle e_1\right\rangle < \left\langle e_1,e_2\right\rangle < \cdots < \left\langle e_1,\ldots,e_n \right\rangle = K^n.$$

An adapted basis is almost never unique (the counterexamples are trivial); see below.

A complete flag on an inner product space has an essentially unique orthonormal basis: it is unique up to multiplying each vector by a unit (scalar of unit length, e.g. 1, −1, i). Such a basis can be constructed using the Gram-Schmidt process. The uniqueness up to units follows inductively, by noting that $$v_i$$ lies in the one-dimensional space $$V_{i-1}^\perp \cap V_i$$.

More abstractly, it is unique up to an action of the maximal torus: the flag corresponds to the Borel group, and the inner product corresponds to the maximal compact subgroup.

Stabilizer
The stabilizer subgroup of the standard flag is the group of invertible upper triangular matrices.

More generally, the stabilizer of a flag (the linear operators on V such that $$T(V_i) < V_i$$ for all i) is, in matrix terms, the algebra of block upper triangular matrices (with respect to an adapted basis), where the block sizes $$d_i-d_{i-1}$$. The stabilizer subgroup of a complete flag is the set of invertible upper triangular matrices with respect to any basis adapted to the flag. The subgroup of lower triangular matrices with respect to such a basis depends on that basis, and can therefore not be characterized in terms of the flag only.

The stabilizer subgroup of any complete flag is a Borel subgroup (of the general linear group), and the stabilizer of any partial flags is a parabolic subgroup.

The stabilizer subgroup of a flag acts simply transitively on adapted bases for the flag, and thus these are not unique unless the stabilizer is trivial. That is a very exceptional circumstance: it happens only for a vector space of dimension 0, or for a vector space over $$\mathbf{F}_2$$ of dimension 1 (precisely the cases where only one basis exists, independently of any flag).

Subspace nest
In an infinite-dimensional space V, as used in functional analysis, the flag idea generalises to a subspace nest, namely a collection of subspaces of V that is a total order for inclusion and which further is closed under arbitrary intersections and closed linear spans. See nest algebra.

Set-theoretic analogs
From the point of view of the field with one element, a set can be seen as a vector space over the field with one element: this formalizes various analogies between Coxeter groups and algebraic groups.

Under this correspondence, an ordering on a set corresponds to a maximal flag: an ordering is equivalent to a maximal filtration of a set. For instance, the filtration (flag) $$\{0\} \subset \{0,1\} \subset \{0,1,2\}$$ corresponds to the ordering $$(0,1,2)$$.

title: Flag (linear algebra)


text:
North Borneo

North Borneo (usually known as British North Borneo, also known as the State of North Borneo) was a British protectorate in the northern part of the island of Borneo, which is present day Sabah. The territory of North Borneo was originally established by concessions of the Sultanates of Brunei and Sulu in 1877 and 1878 to a German-born representative of Austria-Hungary, a businessman and diplomat, Gustav Overbeck.

Overbeck had recently purchased a small tract of land in the western coast of Borneo in 1876 from American merchant Joseph William Torrey, who had promoted the territory in Hong Kong since 1866. Overbeck then transferred all his rights to Alfred Dent before withdrawing in 1879. In 1881, Dent established the North Borneo Provisional Association Ltd to manage the territory, which was granted a royal charter in the same year. The following year, the Provisional Association was replaced by the North Borneo Chartered Company. The granting of a royal charter worried both the neighbouring Spanish and Dutch authorities; as a result, the Spanish began to stake their claim of northern Borneo. A protocol known as the Madrid Protocol was signed in 1885 to recognise Spanish presence in the Philippine archipelago, in return establishing the definite border of Spanish influence beyond northern Borneo. To avoid further claims from other European powers, North Borneo was made a British protectorate in 1888.

North Borneo produced timber for export; along with agriculture this industry remained the main economic resource for the British in Borneo. As the population was too small to effectively serve the economy, the British sponsored various migration schemes for Chinese workers from Hong Kong and China to work in the European plantations, and for Japanese immigrants to participate in the economic activities of North Borneo. The starting of World War II with the arrival of Japanese forces however brought an end to protectorate administration, with the territory placed under a military administration and then designated as a crown colony.

Foundation and early years
North Borneo was founded in 1877–1878 through a series of land concessions in northern Borneo from the Sultanate of Brunei and Sulu to an Austrian-German businessman and diplomat, Gustav Overbeck. A former American Trading Company of Borneo territory in the western coast of northern Borneo had already passed to Overbeck, requiring him to go to Brunei to renew the concession of the land he bought from Joseph William Torrey. William Clark Cowie played an important role as a close friend of the Sultanate of Sulu in helping Overbeck to buy additional land in the eastern coast of Borneo. Meanwhile, the Sultanate of Bulungan's influence also reached Tawau in eastern southern coast, but came under the influence of the more dominating Sulu Sultanate.

Following his success in leasing a large tract of lands from both the western and eastern parts of northern Borneo, Overbeck went to Europe to promote the territory in Austria-Hungary and Italy as well as in his own country of Germany, but none showed any real interest. Only Great Britain, which had sought to control trade routes in the Far East since the 18th century, responded. The interest of the British was strengthened by their presence in the Crown Colony of Labuan since 1846. As a result, Overbeck received financial support from the British Dent brothers (Alfred Dent and Edward Dent) and diplomatic and military support from the British government. Following the entrance of support from the British side, a clause was included in the treaties that the ceded territories could not be sold or given to another party without the permission of the British government.

Unable to attract the interest of the governments of Austria, Italy and Germany, Overbeck withdrew in 1879; all his treaty rights with the Sultanates were transferred to Alfred Dent, who in 1881 formed the North Borneo Provisional Association Ltd with the support of countrymen Rutherford Alcock, Admiral Henry Keppel, Richard Biddulph Martin, Admiral Richard Mayne, and William Henry Read. The Provisional Association then applied to Queen Victoria for a royal charter, which was granted on 1 November 1881. William Hood Treacher was appointed as the first governor, and Kudat at the northern tip of Borneo was chosen as the Provisional Association administration capital. The granting of the royal charter had worried both the Dutch and the Spanish, who feared that Britain might threaten the position of their colonies.

In May 1882, the Provisional Association was replaced by the newly formed North Borneo Chartered Company, with Alcock acting as the first President and Dent becoming the company managing director. The administration is not considered as a British acquisition of the territory, but rather simply as a private enterprise with government guidelines to protect the territory from being encroached upon by other European powers. Under Governor Treacher, the company gained more territories on the western coast from the Sultanate of Brunei. The company subsequently acquired further sovereign and territorial rights from the sultan of Brunei, expanding the territory under control to the Putatan river (May 1884), the Padas district (November 1884), the Kawang river (February 1885), the Mantanani Islands (April 1885) and additional minor Padas territories (March 1898).

At the early stage of the administration, there was a claim in northern Borneo by the Spanish authorities in the Philippines, and an attempt to raise the Spanish flag over Sandakan was met with interference by a British warship. To prevent further conflict and to end the Spanish claim to northern Borneo, in 1885 an agreement known as the Madrid Protocol was signed in Madrid between the United Kingdom, Germany and Spain, recognising the Spanish presence in the Philippine archipelago. As the company did not wish to be involved in further foreign affairs issues, North Borneo was made a British Protectorate on 12 May 1888. In 1890, the Crown Colony of Labuan was incorporated into the administration of North Borneo, before returning to British government direct rule in 1904. There were several local insurrections from 1894 to 1900 by Mat Salleh and by Antanum in 1915. The First World War did not greatly affect the territory, and logging business grew during the interwar period.

North Borneo Dispute
The North Borneo dispute, also known as the Sabah dispute, is the territorial dispute between Malaysia and the Philippines over much of the eastern part of the state of Sabah. Sabah was previously known as North Borneo prior to the formation of the Malaysian federation.

The Philippines, presenting itself as the successor state of the Sultanate of Sulu, retains a "dormant claim" on Eastern Sabah on the basis that the territory was only leased to the British North Borneo Company in 1878, and the sovereignty of the sultanate (and subsequently the republic) over the territory was never relinquished. However, Malaysia considers this dispute a "non-issue", as it interprets the 1878 agreement as that of cession, and it deems that the residents of Sabah (including Eastern Sabah) exercised their right to self-determination when they joined to form the Malaysian federation in 1963.

Malaysia inherited the deal in 1963, when the Federation of Malaysia was formed. However, Malaysia stopped annual payments of 5,300 ringgit ($1,200) to the sultan’s descendants after the bloody 2013 Lahad Datu incursion, carried out by followers of the self-proclaimed Sultan, Jamalul Kiram III. Years later, eight of these Sulu heirs, who insisted they were not involved in the standoff, hired lawyers to pursue legal action based on the original commercial deal. Since then, Sulu claimants have been accused of “forum shopping".

In 2017, the heirs showed their intention to start arbitration in Spain and asked for $32.2 billion in compensation. In 2019, Malaysia responded for the first time. The attorney general at the time offered to start making yearly payments again and to pay 48,000 Malaysian ringgit (about $10,400) for past dues and interest, but only if the heirs gave up their claim. The heirs did not accept this offer and the case, led by Spanish arbiter Gonzalo Stampa, continued without Malaysia being involved.

In February 2022, Gonzalo Stampa - the arbitrator for the case - awarded US$14.9 billion to the Sultan of Sulu’s heirs, who have since sought to enforce the award against Malaysian state-owned assets around the world. It is noteworthy that the High Court of Madrid had annulled the procedure presided over by Stampa, who then moved the case to Paris, where he announced a verdict against Malaysia. In a crucial recent development, Stampa has been convicted of contempt of court for “knowingly disobeying rulings and orders from the Madrid High Court of Justice”, and sentenced to six months in prison.

According to the Litigation Finance Journal, this legal dispute between the Malaysian government and the Sulu heirs has been “one of the highest profile international arbitration cases in recent times, raising issues around state sovereignty, and the role of third-party funders in international arbitration”. The proceedings of the case are still ongoing.

World War II and decline In World War II, the Japanese invasion of the island of Borneo started with the unopposed landing of the Japanese forces at Miri and Seria on 16 December 1941, with the objective of securing oil supplies. On 1 January 1942, the Japanese navy landed unopposed in Labuan. The next day, 2 January 1942, the Japanese landed at Mempakul on North Borneo territory. After negotiations with the Officers-in-charge of Jesselton as to its surrender, while they were waiting for troop reinforcements, Jesselton was occupied by the Japanese on 8 January. Another strong Japanese army detachment arrived from Mindanao and began to land on Tarakan Island, before proceeding to Sandakan on 17 January. The Japanese arrival was met with no strong resistance, as the protectorate mainly relied on the Royal Navy for defence. Although North Borneo has a police force, it never had its own army or navy. By the end of January, North Borneo was completely occupied by the Japanese. It was administered as part of the Empire of Japan, with the officers of the chartered company being allowed to continued administration under Japanese supervision.

The arrival of the Japanese forces to Borneo and the fall of Anglo-Japanese Alliance had already been predicted by revelation through secret telegrams that Japanese ships docked regularly at Jesselton were engaged in espionage. Many of the British and Australian soldiers captured after the fall of Malaya and Singapore were brought to North Borneo and held as a prisoners of war (POWs) in Sandakan camp where they were then forced to march from Sandakan to Ranau. Other POWs were also sent to Batu Lintang camp in neighbouring Sarawak. The occupation drove residents in the coastal areas to the interior in searching for food and escaping the brutality during the war period, which led to the creation of several resistance movements; one of the such movement known as the Kinabalu Guerrillas which led by Albert Kwok and supported by indigenous groups in North Borneo.

As part of the Allied Campaign to retake their possessions in the East, Allied forces deployed to Borneo under the Borneo Campaign to liberate the island. The Australian Imperial Force (AIF) played a significant part in the mission, with the force being sent to Tarakan and Labuan islands to secure the east and western Borneo. The Allied Z Special Unit provided intelligence gatherings and other information from the Japanese that could facilitated the AIF landings, while US submarines were used to transport Australian commandos to Borneo. Most of the major towns of North Borneo were heavily bombed during these period. The war ended on 15 August 1945 following the Japanese surrender and the administration of North Borneo was undertaken by the British Military Administration (BMA) from September. The company official administration returned to administer the territory but, unable to finance the reconstruction cost after the war, ceded administration of the protectorate to the crown colony government on 15 July 1946.

Government
The Chartered Company's system of administration was based on standard British colonial empire administration structures, with the land divided into Residencies, and sub-divided into Districts. Initially, there were only two Residencies: East Coast and West Coast, with Residents based at Sandakan and Jesselton respectively. Each Residency was divided into Provinces, later known as Districts, which were run by district officers. By 1922, there were five Residencies to accommodate new areas that were opened up for development. These were the West Coast, Kudat, Tawau, Interior and East Coast Residencies. These Residencies were in turn divided into 17 districts. Under this system, British held top posts, while native chiefs managed the people at grassroots level. This was not a conscious attempt by the British to instill indirect rule but a convenient arrangement for the district officers who were unfamiliar with local customs and politics.

The company administration established a foundation for economic growth in North Borneo by restoring peace to a land where piracy and tribal feuds had grown rampant. It abolished slavery and set up transport, health and education services for the people, and allowed indigenous communities to continue their traditional lifestyles. The British North Borneo Constabulary, the territory's police force, in 1883 comprised 3 Europeans, 50 Indians (Punjabis and Pashtuns), 30 Dayaks, 50 Somalis and 20 Malays. Constables trained at depot an average of three days per week. In 1884 the force had a total of 176 members, which increased to about 510 over three years. While under the protectorate, international relations fell under the purview of the British government, internally North Borneo was governed by the North Borneo Chartered Company as an independent state with British protection. The treaty signed on 12 May 1888 stipulated:

 Agreement between the British Government and the British North Borneo Company for the establishment of a British Protectorate —Signed at London, 12 May 1888

I. The State of North Borneo comprises the territories specified in the said Royal Charter, and such other territories as the Company have acquired, or may hereafter acquire, ‘under the provisions of Article XV of the said Charter.

It is divided into nine Provinces, namely:

 * Province Alcock;
 * Province Cunliffe;
 * Province Dent;
 * Province Dewhurst;
 * Province Elphinstone;
 * Province Keppel;
 * Province Martin;
 * Province Mayne;
 * Province Myburgh.

II. The State of North Borneo shall continue to be governed and administered as an independent State by the company in conformity with the provisions of the said Charter; under the protection of Great Britain; but such protection shall confer no right on Her Majesty's Government to interfere with the internal administration of the State further than is provided herein or by the Charter of the Company.

III. The relations between the State of North Borneo and all foreign States, including the States of Brunei and of Sarawak, shall be conducted by Her Majesty's Government, or in accordance with its directions; and if any difference should arise between the Government of North Borneo and that of any other State, the Company, as representing the State of North Borneo, agrees to abide by the decision of Her Majesty's Government, and to take all necessary to give effect thereto.

IV. Her Majesty's Government shall have the right to establish British Consular officers in any part of the said territories, who shall receive exequaturs in the name of the Government of North Borneo. They shall enjoy whatever privileges are usually granted to Consular officers, and they shall be entitled to hoist the British flag over their residences and public offices.

V. British subjects, commerce, and shipping shall enjoy the same right, privileges, and advantages as the subjects, commerce, and shipping of the most favoured nation, as well as any other rights, privileges, and advantages which may be enjoyed by the subjects, commerce and shipping of North Borneo.

VI. No cession or other alienation of any part of the territory of the State of North Borneo shall be made by its Government to any foreign State, or the subjects or the citizens thereof, without the consent of Her Majesty's Government; but this restriction shall not apply to ordinary grants or leases of lands or houses to private individuals for purposes of residence, agriculture, commerce, or other business.

Economy
With the beginning of well-planned economic activities under British administration, the North Borneo authorities began to open land for agriculture, and native land rights began to be formed. The government however felt that the native population was too small and unsuited to meet the requirements of modern development, so they began to sponsor various schemes for the migration of Chinese workers from Hong Kong and China. In 1882, the North Borneo authorities appointed Walter Henry Medhurst as Commissioner for Chinese Immigration in the mission to attract more businessmen to invest in North Borneo by providing a workforce. Medhurst's efforts were costly and unsuccessful; however, the Hakka, not part of the plan, began to migrate to North Borneo where they formed an agricultural community.

Since the 18th century, tobacco was North Borneo's foremost planting industry. The logging history in North Borneo can be traced since the 1870s. From 1890s, hardwood exports increased, with logging expanding especially during the interwar period. In the 1900s, North Borneo joined the rubber boom. The completion of North Borneo Railway Line helped to transport the resources to a major port on the west coast. By 1915, around 34828 acre of land, in addition to Chinese and North Borneo smallholdings, had been planted with rubber tree. In the same year, North Borneo Governor Aylmer Cavendish Pearson invited Japanese emigrants to participate in the economic activities there. The Japanese government received the request warmly and send researchers to discover potential economic opportunities.

At the early stage, the Japanese encouraged their farmers to go to North Borneo to cultivate rice, as their country depended on rice imports. With increasing economic interest from the Japanese side, they purchased a rubber estate owned by the North Borneo government. By 1937, North Borneo exported 178,000 cubic metres of timber, surpassing Siam, which exporting 85,000 cubic metres of timber. Many of the privately owned Japanese estates and companies had been involved in the economic sectors of North Borneo since been invited by the British. With the increasing numbers of Japanese investments, many Japanese also migrate with their family to the east coast of North Borneo, primarily to Tawau and Kunak.

Currency
The original monetary unit of North Borneo was the Mexican dollar, equal to 100 cents. The dollar was later matched to the Straits dollar and rated at 9 Straits dollars (equal to 5 US dollars at the time). Different notes were issued throughout the administration, with backgrounds featuring the Mount Kinabalu or the company arms.

Demography
In 1881, 60,000 to 100,000 indigenous people lived in North Borneo. The people on the coast were mainly Muslims, with the aborigines mostly located inland. The Kadazan-Dusun and Murut were the largest indigenous group in the interior, while Bajau, Bruneian, Illanun, Kedayan and Suluk dominated the coastal areas. Following various immigration schemes initiated by the British, the population increased to 200,000 in 1920, 257,804 in 1930, 285,000 in 1935, and 331,000 in 1945. Under company rule, the government of North Borneo not only recruited Chinese workers but also Japanese immigrants to overcome the shortage of manpower in the economic sectors. From 1911 until 1951, the total of Chinese population increased from only 27,801 to 74,374 which is divided between Hakka (44,505), Cantonese (11,833), Hokkien (7,336), Teochew (3,948), some Hailam (Hainan) (3,571) and other Chinese groups (3,181).

Public service infrastructure
North Borneo was connected to the Singapore-Hongkong submarine cable by a link from the island of Labuan to Menumbok. The first message from the Borneo mainland to London was sent on 19 May 1894. A few days later, the work on a telegraph line from the West Coast to Sandakan was started. It took three years and exacted a heavy toll in human life to push the line through the almost uninhabited interior territory, until on 7 April 1897 a congratulatory message from the Governor in Sandakan for transmission to the Court of Directors in London was successfully transmitted from Sandakan to Labuan. In the early 1910s the technical and financial problems with the telegraph line prompted the company to venture into the construction of a wireless network, based on the quench-spark system of the German Telefunken Company. The first stage of this network comprised stations in Sandakan, Jesselton, Tawau and Kudat. The first wireless communication was established on 24 October 1913 between British North Borneo and Jolo on the Philippine Islands. Inland communication was effected on 14 January 1914 between Sandakan and Jesselton.

The North Borneo Railway opened to the public on 1 August 1914 as the main transportation facility for west coast communities. Postal service was also available throughout the administration.

Media
The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (since 1820) and British North Borneo Herald (since 1883) held a significant amount of records regarding North Borneo before and during the British administration.

title: North Borneo