The Battle of Big Black River Bridge was fought on May 17, 1863, as part of the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. After a Union army commanded by Major General Ulysses S. Grant defeated Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton's Confederate army at the Battle of Champion Hill on May 16, Pemberton ordered Brigadier General John S. Bowen to hold a rear guard at the crossing of the Big Black River to buy time for the Confederate army to regroup. Union troops commanded by Major General John McClernand pursued the Confederates, and encountered Bowen's rear guard. A Union charge quickly broke the Confederate position, and during the retreat and river crossing, a rout ensued. Many Confederate soldiers were captured, and 18 Confederate cannons were taken by the Union troops. The retreating Confederates burned both the railroad bridge over the Big Black River, as well as a steamboat that had been serving as a bridge. The surviving Confederate soldiers entered the fortifications at Vicksburg, Mississippi, and the siege of Vicksburg began the next day. Background In March 1863, Major General Ulysses S. Grant of the Union Army was planning an attack against the strategically important city of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Grant determined that there were three possible routes of attack against Vicksburg: from the north, from the south, and from across the Mississippi River. An attack across the river was determined to be likely to incur many casualties, and concentrating forces in the Memphis, Tennessee, area for an attack from the north could be misconstrued as a retreat, which would be politically disadvantageous. Grant therefore decided to attack from the south. On April 29, elements of the Union Navy attempted to shell Confederate fortifications at Grand Gulf, Mississippi, into submission in the Battle of Grand Gulf. When this failed, Union infantry commanded by Major General John McClernand were landed further down the river, leveraging the Confederates out of their Grand Gulf fortifications by threatening the Confederate line of retreat. On May 1, Confederate forces commanded by Brigadier General John S. Bowen, who had commanded at Grand Gulf, attempted to fight a blocking action at the Battle of Port Gibson. Although the Confederates, who were severely outnumbered, held their own for most of the day, Union troops eventually pushed back the right flank of the Confederate line, leading Bowen to decide to retreat from the field. On May 16, the Battle of