 Despite this, Taylor won the presidential election of 1848 and was the last president elected as a member of the Whig Party. And on this day in 1863, the 48-day siege of Port Hudson, Louisiana ended with a Confederate surrender. This Union victory, coupled with the fall of Vicksburg, Mississippi a few days earlier on July 4th, gave the Union complete control of the Mississippi River and cut the Confederacy in two.