Commander Read, characterized by Farragut as "one of the most gallant and enterprising officers in my squadron," was mortally wounded in the action.

On July 7, Brig. Gen. John H. Morgan and his Confederate force found the steamer USS John T. McCombs. They stormed the boat and quickly captured it without any resistance. Morgan's men also captured the nearby USS Alice Dean.

The Confederates terrorized and robbed the ships' passengers of both ships before securing them for a crossing. This was part of Morgan's Ohio Raid.

Under the Union draft act men faced the possibility of conscription in July 1863 and in Mar., July, and Dec. 1864. Draft riots ensued, notably in New York in 1863. Of the 249,259 18-to-35-year-old men whose names were drawn, only about 6% served, the rest paying commutation or hiring a substitute.

Lt. Colonel Christopher "Kit" Carson leaves Santa Fe with his troops, beginning his campaign against the Indians of New Mexico and Arizona. A famed mountain man before the Civil War, Carson was responsible for waging a destructive war against the Navajo that resulted in their removal from the Four Corners area to southeastern New Mexico. Carson was perhaps the most famous trapper and guide in the West. He traveled with the expeditions of John C. Fremont in the 1840s, leading Fremont through the Great Basin. Fremont's flattering portrayal of Carson made the mountain man a hero when the reports were published and widely read in the east. Later, Carson guided Stephen Watts Kearney to New Mexico during the Mexican-American War. In the 1850s he became the Indian agent for New Mexico, a position he left in 1861 to accept a commission as lieutenant colonel in the 1st New Mexico Volunteers. Although Carson's unit saw action in the New Mexico battles of 1862, he was most famous for his campaign against the Indians. Despite his reputation for being sympathetic and accommodating to tribes such as the Mescaleros, Kiowas, and Navajo, Carson waged a brutal campaign against the Navajo in 1863. When bands of Navajo refused to accept confinement on reservations, Carson terrorized the Navajo lands--burning crops, destroying villages, and slaughtering livestock. Carson rounded up some 8000 Navajo and marched them across New Mexico for imprisonment on the Bosque Redondo, over 300 miles from their homes, where they remained for the duration of the war.

As the siege moved into July, the Federal troops continued to push their saps and zigzags closer toward the Confederate works. Captain Joseph Bailey, Dwight’s untutored engineering officer, began a vast tunnel under the Citadel hill on the far left near the river. Thirty barrels of powder were then placed inside to blow up the Citadel. A second tunnel was started on Grover’s front on the right near the Priest Cap. By July 7, the mine under the Priest Cap was completed and twelve hundred pounds of powder placed inside.

His preparations were unnecessary. On July 7, a gunboat arrived at the upper fleet bringing news of the surrender of Vicksburg on July 4, 1864. Colonel Kilby Smith of Grant’s staff carried the news to General Banks.