{"id":271,"date":"2013-07-03T08:09:27","date_gmt":"2013-07-03T12:09:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/?p=271"},"modified":"2024-12-12T10:17:26","modified_gmt":"2024-12-12T15:17:26","slug":"twin-victories-on-fourth-of-july","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/twin-victories-on-fourth-of-july\/","title":{"rendered":"Twin victories on Fourth of July"},"content":{"rendered":"

By James Breig<\/a><\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Fourth of July marks not only the 237th<\/sup> anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, but also the 150th<\/sup> anniversary of two seminal battles of the Civil War<\/a>: Gettysburg and Vicksburg. If you subtract 150 from 237, you get a number associated with Abraham Lincoln.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A Union soldier poses with flags<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The twin historic conflicts, which spanned the country from Pennsylvania to the Mississippi River, raged simultaneously and ended with Union victories on July 4, 1863.<\/p>\n

Remarking a few days later on the triumph in Vicksburg, The New York Times noted that \u201cthe State of Mississippi<\/a> [seceded] on the 9th day of January 1861. Four days afterward, the Governor\u2026ordered artillery to Vicksburg\u2026.From that time until the Fourth of July 1863 \u2013 a period of nearly two years and a half \u2013 there has been no passing of that point on the great river\u2026.For the last four days, the passage has again been free to the American flag<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The significance of the date of the victories was not lost on President Lincoln. Learning of the fall of Vicksburg, he appeared in a window of the White House to address a joyous crowd that had paraded through the Capital to serenade him.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A Civil War soldier’s photo in a flag-decorated frame<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cHow long ago is it?\u201d he asked, according to newspaper reports, and then answered: \u201cEighty odd years since, on the fourth day of July, for the first time in the history of the world, a nation\u2026declared as self-evident truth that all men are created equal\u2026.That was the birth day of the United States of America.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the time he spoke at the dedication of the military cemetery in Gettysburg in November 1863, Lincoln had refined his off-the-cuff \u201c80 odd years\u201d to the immortal phrase: \u201cFourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A commemoration of the Battle of Gettysburg in 1913<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A U.S. consul in England, writing to Lincoln\u2019s Secretary of State, shared how significant the dual victories were overseas. \u201cOur own flag staff\u2026is the most prominent flag staff in Manchester,\u201d he wrote, \u201cyet I do not often raise the flag, not wishing to make a cheap display of it; but on such occasions as Gettysburg [and] Vicksburg I hoist the old flag \u2013 and reverently thank God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Happy Fourth, a perfect day to wave flags!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By James Breig This year\u2019s Fourth of July marks not only the 237th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, but also the 150th anniversary of two seminal battles of the Civil War: Gettysburg and Vicksburg. If you subtract 150 from 237, you get a number associated with Abraham Lincoln. The twin historic conflicts, which spanned… continue<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[82,65,10,57,43,83,42,3,81,80,76],"class_list":["post-271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-lessons","tag-abraham-lincoln","tag-america","tag-american-flag","tag-battle","tag-civil-war","tag-fourth-of-july","tag-gettysburg","tag-history","tag-july-4","tag-president-lincoln","tag-vicksburg"],"yoast_head":"\nCivil War Victories on July 4th, 1863<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Two seminal battles of the Civil War - Gettysburg and Vicksburg - ended with Union victories on July 4, 1863.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/twin-victories-on-fourth-of-july\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Civil War Victories on July 4th, 1863\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Two seminal battles of the Civil War - 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