<P> On July 2, 1862, President Lincoln had authorized African American contraband or "fugitive slaves" seeking refuge in the Union Army to be recruited . During the fall of 1862, Grant made efforts to take care of "wagon loads" of black slave refugees in Western Tennessee and Northern Mississippi . On November 13, 1862, Grant placed Chaplain John Eaton of the 27th Ohio Infantry in charge of the refugees . Eaton organized camps and put the refugees to work to bring in the fall corn and cotton crops on deserted plantations . Eaton proved to be a judicious and fair leader of the Union contraband, protecting them from Confederate marauders . The refugees were not paid directly at this time; however, money was allocated and spent on them reasonably for their benefit . Eventually, these African Americans were recruited into the Union Army and paid directly to cut wood to fuel the Union steamers . With the resulting income the Union contraband were able to feed and clothe their families . This would be the beginnings of what would be known as the Freedmens Bureau during Reconstruction . Similar efforts to incorporate African Americans into the Union war effort were made on the Atlantic coast . Many Union political conservatives in Illinois, however, were against and blocked the influx of African Americans into their state . On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the slaves in the states and parts of states in rebellion . Thereafter, the Union recruited both former slaves and other blacks to fight against the Confederacy in new regiments of the Union Army known as the United States Colored Troops . </P> <P> Resolved to take control of the Mississippi River from the Confederacy, President Lincoln and the Union Army and Navy were determined to take the Confederate stronghold Vicksburg in 1862 . Lincoln authorized Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand, a war Democrat politician, to recruit troops, the XIII corps, and organize an expedition against Vicksburg . A personal rivalry developed between Grant and McClernand on who would get credit for taking Vicksburg . The Vicksburg campaign started in December 1862 and lasted six months before the Union Army finally took the fortress . The campaign combined many important naval operations, troop maneuvers, failed initiatives, and was divided into two stages . The prize of capturing Vicksburg would ensure either McClernand or Grant's success and would divide the Confederacy into two eastern and western parts . At the opening of the campaign, Grant attempted to capture Vicksburg overland from the Northeast; however, Confederate Generals Nathan B. Forrest and Earl Van Dorn thwarted the Union Army advance by raiding Union supply lines . A related direct assault riverine expedition then failed when Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman was repulsed by the Confederate forces at the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou . </P> <P> In January 1863, McClernand and Sherman's combined XIII and XV corps, the Army of the Mississippi, defeated the Confederates at Arkansas Post . Grant made five attempts to capture Vicksburg by water routes; however, all failed . With the Union impatient for a victory, in March 1863, the second stage to capture Vicksburg began . Grant marched his troops down the west side of the Mississippi River and crossed over at Bruinsburg . Adm. David D. Porter's navy ships had previously made a run past Vicksburg's batteries on April 16, 1863, enabling Union troops to be transported to the east side of the river . The crossing succeeded due to Grant's elaborate series of demonstrations and diversions that masked his intended movements from the Confederates . After the crossing, Grant maneuvered his army inland, and after a series of battles, the state capital, Jackson, Mississippi, was captured . Confederate general John C. Pemberton was defeated by Grant's forces at the battles of Champion Hill and of Black River Bridge and retreated to the Vicksburg fortress . After two unsuccessful and costly assaults on Vicksburg, Grant settled in for a 40 - day siege . Pemberton, unable to combine forces with the army of Joseph E. Johnson, which was hovering in central Mississippi, finally surrendered Vicksburg on July 4, 1863 . The capture of Vicksburg was a turning point for the Union war effort . The surrender of Vicksburg and the defeat of Confederate general Robert E. Lee at Gettysburg were stinging defeats for the Confederacy, now split in two by the Union's domination of the Mississippi River . President Lincoln promoted Grant to the permanent rank of Major General in the Regular Army . Vicksburg marked the second surrender of a Confederate army (the other being Buckner's surrender to Grant the year before). During the Vicksburg siege, Grant dismissed McClernand for publishing to the press a congratulatory order that seemed to claim it was McClernand's corps that was winning the campaign . McClernand appealed the dismissal to his personal friend, President Lincoln, but to no avail . Grant had ended the rivalry on his own terms . The Union army had captured considerable Confederate artillery, small arms, and ammunition . Total casualties, killed or wounded, for the final operation against Vicksburg that started on March 29, 1863 were 10,142 for the Union and 9,091 for the Confederacy . </P> <P> Although the victory at Vicksburg was a tremendous advance in the Union War effort, Grant's reputation did not escape criticism . During the initial campaign in December 1862, Grant became upset and angry over speculators and traders who inundated his department and violated rules about trading cotton in a militarized zone . As a result, Grant issued his notorious General Order No. 11 on December 17, expelling all Jews who he believed were engaged in trade in his department, including their families . When protests erupted from Jews and non-Jews alike, President Lincoln rescinded the order on January 4, 1863; however, the episode tarnished Grant's reputation . In addition, Grant was accused by Maj. Gen. Charles S. Hamilton and William J. Kountz for being a "drunkard" and "gloriously drunk" in February and March, 1863 . Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand was alleged to have promoted and secretly spread this rumor in the Union Army . Both McClernand and Hamilton were seeking promotion in the army at the time of these allegations . Cincinnati Commercial editor Murat Halstead railed that, "Our whole Army of the Mississippi is being wasted by a foolish, drunken, stupid Grant". Lincoln sent Charles A. Dana to keep a watchful eye . To save Grant from dismissal, assistant Adjutant General John A. Rawlins, Grant's friend, got him to take a pledge not to touch alcohol . </P>

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