Grant Wins the War - Decision at Vicksburg

James Arnold argues that the Battle of Vicksburg was the decisive turning point in the Civil War. He shows how the Union victory there transformed the perception of General Ulysses S. Grant from that of a drunken incompetent whose position as army commander was on the line to that of the North's indispensable military man. Arnold also demonstrates that Grant's decision to disregard orders and proceed was the single most important command decision of the war.