Don Stivers limited edition print, Running the Gauntlet at Vicksburg

Description: I combine shipping on multiple purchases. Put all your items from me into your shopping cart, go to the cart page, find the link "request total" and click on that. I will get the order and send you an invoice for the total including exact shipping. Be sure to add me to your favorites list! Check out my other items! SOLD OUT EDITION. CGSC Class of 1989 commissioned print. What was to be a quick, overland movement of merely 40 miles along the west bank of the Mississippi River, had bogged down in swamps and bayous, rain flooded roads and shallow canals. General U.S. Grants objective was to effect a landing on the east bank of the river, then move inland. But to do that he must first get his army below the fortress city - and building roads and cutting his way through the mire of the west bank was slowing the army to a crawl. His new plan called for a combined operation: part of Grants army would continue to work its way overland while Admiral David Porter would run the gauntlet of batteries at Vicksburg with the other part of the army and supplies. It was a bold but hazardous wager, this combined operation of army and navy. Most of General U.S. Grants subordinates remonstrated: by sending part of his army cross-country and part down the Mississippi on transports, he was cutting himself off from his supplies and communications; he was splitting his army in the face of a foe nearly double his strength; and the batteries at Vicksburg were powerful enough to destroy anything on the river. Even General William Tecumseh Sherman thought the plan rash. But whatever side of the Mississippi you were on, the spectacle after dark on the night of April 16, 1863 was grandly, horrifyingly magnificent. As the great, black hulks of Admiral David Porters gunboats and transports slid silently into range of the Confederate batteries, Southerners in picket boats set fire to buildings on the west bank, illuminating the river in a weirdly spectral glow. Shells flew through the night, hundreds of burning fuses arching towards the ships to explode in a fiery rain of fragments. Smoke clung close to the water. In the words of an observer, It was as if hell itself were loose that night on the Mississippi... Just below Vicksburg, from his flagship the Benton, Porter sees a small craft being rowed out to him. In the flickering light of a burning transport - the only ship he would lose that night - the Admiral recognizes General Sherman who will greet each vessel as it arrives, assuring them that they will soon meet up with the rest of the army. Beacon fires on the river die through the drifting smoke, and silence again rules the river. The link-up will soon be complete. But something had changed with this passage, and with the army's belief in U.S. Grants military prowess. It wouldn't end now until the great river ran unvexed to the sea. Signed and numbered limited edition print. COA included. Shipping by heavy duty tube. INTERNATIONAL BUYERS: Import duties, taxes, and charges are not included in the item price or shipping cost. These charges are the buyer's responsibility. Please check with your country's customs office to determine what these additional costs will be prior to bidding or buying. I WILL NOT falsify customs declarations with a lower value or mark an item as a "gift" in order to avoid customs fees. Powered by eBay Turbo Lister The free listing tool. List your items fast and easy and manage your active items.

Price: 79 USD

Location: Harker Heights, Texas

End Time: 2025-01-21T19:17:44.000Z

Shipping Cost: N/A USD