Happy Confederate defeat day! Admittedly, it took another two years before the capitulation was complete, but the seeds of that Union victory were sown on July 4th, 1863. Lee began his retreat to Virginia after Gettysburg, and Grant wrapped up the siege of Vicksburg.
While the two forces at Gettysburg spent the Fourth of July in relative peace, staring at each other across blood-soaked fields and woodlands, General Ulysses S. Grant’s army captured the fortified town of Vicksburg in Mississippi. After enduring a siege of more than 40 days, Confederate General John Pemberton surrendered his army of almost 30,000 men to Grant.