The Mississippi campaign was an economic problem created by the Union during the American Civil War in which Union Army troops, helped by gunboats and river ironclads took control over the Mississippi River, therefore virtually splitting the Confederate territory in two while also controlling the South's main artery of transport. Important battles in the Mississippi campaign were the capture of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, the Island No. 10 and the battles of Memphis, Vicksburg, and Port Hudson.