Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/May 12, 2023
The Battle of Raymond was fought on May 12, 1863, near Raymond, Mississippi, during the Vicksburg campaign of the American Civil War. In late April, Union general Ulysses S. Grant led his army across the Mississippi River and moved east. A portion of the army led by James B. McPherson moved towards Raymond. Confederate brigadier general John Gregg was ordered from Jackson to Raymond. The two forces met on the morning of May 12. Gregg underestimated Union strength and acted aggressively, while McPherson overestimated Confederate strength and responded cautiously. Early on, the battle was relatively evenly matched. McPherson brought up reinforcements and the weight of Union numbers cracked the Confederate line. Gregg disengaged, but McPherson did not pursue. The battle changed Grant's plans, leading him to first focus on the Confederate forces at Jackson. Grant's men captured Jackson and pivoted west. They besieged Vicksburg, which the Confederates were forced to surrender on July 4. (Full article...)
besieged
editHog Farm, i just wanted to apologize for today's error report, as the use of "sieged" was my fault. i had checked to try to make sure that the use was grammatically correct (e.g., a search for "sieged Vicksburg" returns plenty of results) and figured that the use of "sieged" would more closely emulate the title of the linked article and follow the wording it had replaced. had i read the lead of the article on the siege, i would have noticed that it chose to use "besiege". (the featured article uses "placed Vicksburg under siege", which would have been difficult to use in the blurb in a way that would make clear the confederates surrendered vicksburg.)
for future reference, what is the difference between how the verbs "siege" and "besiege" are used? i am admittedly not an expert in the area, and references seem to tell me that the two are synonyms. dying (talk) 23:44, 12 May 2023 (UTC)