How many people were on each side in the Battle of Vicksburg?
General Grant commanded about 77,000 men at the Siege of Vicksburg, and when the fortress city surrendered on 4 July 1863, a total of 29,495 Confederate troops became prisoners. Grant reluctantly allowed an exchange of prisoners including his Mexican-American War comrade, Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton, CSA who had commanded the Department of the Mississippi. The Confederates routinely gave a short count of their troop strength in battles, so the exact number of troops that the South had at the Siege remains unknown, but it may have been as many as 35,000. This defeat was a major turning point in the war, since it gave the North full control of the Mississippi River.
