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The Mississippi River is one of the main rivers in north America and the second longest in the United States. The Missouri river is longer. The Mississippi flows almost 2,500 miles from where it starts in Northwest Minnesota to its end in the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi and its tributaries drain almost all the plains that lie between the Appalachian Mountains and the Rocky Mountains. The center of the Confederate line in the West rested …

…of the river and crossed over by ship to dry ground on the east side south of the city. Grant began a direct attack on the Confederates at Vicksburg, but as this began to fail he started a siege. Vicksburg surrendered on July 4, the day after the southern defeat at Gettysburg. Four days later, forces under General Nathaniel P. Banks took Port Hudson, Louisiana. The North controlled the Mississippi River, splitting the Confederacy in two.