Before dawn on the 17th the Union Army pushed on toward Vicksburg. Grant, still hoping to win the race for Vicksburg, had dispatched Sherman’s Corps to the north to pass the retreating Confederate Army as Grant engaged it from the front. At an early hour the Federal troops came in sight of the Confederate line, whereupon they opened an artillery barrage and deployed to assault. Before the deployment was complete, Brig. Gen. Eugene A. Carr’s Division charged “with a shout” from the woods fronting the Confederate position. Realizing the danger of their position, where they might be cut off from the crossing to their rear, the Confederate troops broke and headed for the bridges in disorder. After the withdrawal, the bridges were burned, effectively halting Union pursuit. In the confusion, Grant captured over 1,000 prisoners along with 18 artillery pieces. While Pemberton’s Army retreated into the defenses of Vicksburg, Grant’s engineers immediately began construction of bridges across the Big Black River, using trees, cotton bales, and lumber from nearby buildings as bridging materials. Sherman’s Corps, which had struck the river 11 miles to the north attempting to outflank Pemberton and prevent his retreat to Vicksburg, threw a pontoon bridge across the river at that point. By light of pitch torches, the bridges were completed during the night. On the following morning, May 18, troops crossed en route to Vicksburg. [Illustration: _A regiment drawn up in line of battle._ From a wartime sketch.] THE CAMPAIGN ENDED. The Union Army, now within a few miles of its long-sought objective, had, in the 18 days since it crossed the Mississippi, completed one of the most noteworthy campaigns of the war. Marching deep into enemy territory, the Army of the Tennessee had successfully lived off the country while fighting and winning five engagements and inflicting critical losses in men and equipment, had prevented Johnston and Pemberton from joining forces, and had driven the Army of Vicksburg into the defenses of the city. [Illustration: _“Whistling Dick.” This Confederate cannon which guarded Vicksburg gained widespread fame among Union soldiers and sailors because of the peculiar whistle of its projectiles._ From _Photographic History of the Civil War_.] [Illustration: _The terrain of the siege of Vicksburg—looking from the Confederate line to the Union position on the far ridge._]