Zwycięstwo Unii wyszło spod Vicksburga i Gettysburga. Lipiec 1863 r. jako decydujący miesiąc wojny secesyjnej .......... 185

THE UNION’S VICTORY CAME OUT OF VICKSBURG AND GETTYSBURG: JULY 1863 AS THE DECISIVE
MONTH OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR

The American Civil War is a conflict that, for Americans, is an event very clearly present in the historical consciousness. The reason for this is the nature of the conflict, as well as its magnitude and the damage caused by it. American society until the war in Vietnam had not experienced such a huge trauma. The outcome of the conflict was not a foregone conclusion in its early years. The troops of the Confederate States of America repeatedly stood on the battlefield against Union forces, often achieving victories. The breakthrough month turned out to be July 1863. In the eastern theater of operations occurred the Battle of Gettysburg, fought July 1-3, 1863. This was the bloodiest and largest clash of the Civil War, often considered the turning point of the entire conflict. The full Union victory did not come only from under Gettysburg, but also from Vicksburg, located hundreds of kilometers to the west. General Ulysses Grant, commanding Union troops in the area, had been laying siege to the city since May 1863. Cut off from supplies, the Confederate garrison capitulated on July 4, 1863. Thanks to this victory, the Union command was able to hold the state of Mississippi until the end of the war, and cut off Confederate supply routes in the area. Thus, in the first week of July 1863, the Confederate States of America suffered key defeats in two theaters of the Civil War. In the west, the Vicksburg garrison capitulated, and in the east, General Lee was defeated at Gettysburg. After July 1863 the Confederacy failed to regain the offensive potential it had earlier and began to decline. This article aims to outline the situation of the conflicting parties up to July 1863 and to highlight the significance of the clashes at Vicksburg and Gettysburg for the subsequent fate of the war.