Battle of Vicksburg
The Battle of Vicksburg could be considered one of the turning points of the war that allowed the Union to gain a dominant edge. This battle occurred in July of 1863, following the Battle of Gettysburg. Lee and the Confederate troops were wounded and exhausted while making their journey to the South, but Northern General Grant felt it was time to gain the territory of Vicksburg, near the Mississippi River. However, doing this wasn't as easy as the North expected it to be. Since the South wasn't willing to give up the city, the North had to stage a siege by surrounding the area and trapping the people inside. Grant believed this strategy would help bring down their number of losses. The residents of Vicksburg were forced to hide in caves and eat animals they found, while Northern troops fired into their home. Southern Confederate Troops had no other choice than to stay back and defend their lands. This back and forth fight lasted for weeks. After 6 long weeks, 30,000 of the Confederate Troops stepped down, and 5 days later the rest of the troops decided it was time to surrender. Finally, after 47 hard days, the Union was successful in their efforts. As you can see, this victory gave them not only the rest of area near the Mississippi River, but the final upper hand that they needed in order to try to finish off the war.