Sam Houston Anderson - 1861 The year is 1863. U. S. Grant had decided to lay seige to Vicksburg, Mississippi, but first he had to take Jackson, Mississippi to cut the rail line which carried supplies to Vicksburg. Sam H. Anderson was in the forces sent to take Jackson. On May 14, 1863 Jackson, Mississippi fell to the Union Army. Afterwards, some of the troops then marched along the rail tracks to Vicksburg. Sam was part of this group responsible for cutting all the supply routes to Vicksburg. On May 16, 1863 a battle took place for the Champion Hill Bridge. If the Union could get the bridge then they had the main land route to Vicksburg. The Rebels were tryng to destroy the bridge and stop the Union Army from marching to Vicksburg and thereby break the seige.

Sam's Calvary unit, another group from Ohio, and a third Calvary group arrived at Champion Hill. These groups saw a chance to take the bridge and tried, but one mistake that the Union command made was that the Rebel Infantry was inside the bridge getting ready to blow it up. The Rebel and Union forces were so surprised when they first saw each other that they did nothing, just looked at each other. Sam's dad, Captain Allen G. Anderson, who was his commanding officer, told his son Sam that his first thought was "What is going on here"? At the same time the Union Calvary and Rebel Calvary realized here is the enemy and we have a battle on our hands. It was a hard and bloody battle for the 3 groups at the bridge. The Rebels destroyed one third of the bridge, then the Rebel commanding officer told his men to get in the boats that were under the bridge. At the same time Captian Allen G. Anderson was telling his men to jump into the river and get to the other side at once. As later told by Sam , there was lots of confusion with both sides trying to get in the river. Some of the Union Troops and horses fell right onto the Rebel Infantry boats, which then sank. Sam was lucky in that he did not jump into the river but rather rode his horse over.

Sam was then the first Union Trooper to reach the other side. Once he reached shore he saw some Rebel Infantry. Sam always thought it was 6 to 9 men he faced and said "I will find my bravery" and then charged straight into them, firing his pistol and yelling. What he was yelling is not known, but wouldn't it interesting to know? The Rebels, seeing him, must have lost their nerve for they all turned and ran except for one Corporal that was killed by Sam. The other Union Calvary came just in time to see Sam chase off the Rebels. The Union victory was then completed to take the bridge. The bridge was later repaired and the seige of Vicksburg lasted until July 4, 1863 when Vicksburg surrendered.

The next battle Sam would would be in was at Gettysburg, Penn., the most famous and decisive battle of the Civil War.