Vicksburg National Military Park preserves the site of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...

Battle of Vicksburg, waged from March 29 to July 4, 1863. The park, located in Vicksburg, Mississippi (flanking the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it ...

), also commemorates the greater

Vicksburg Campaign The Vicksburg campaign was a series of maneuvers and battles in the Western Theater of the American Civil War directed against Vicksburg, Mississippi, a fortress city that dominated the last Confederate-controlled section of the Mississippi R ...

which led up to the battle. Reconstructed forts and trenches evoke memories of the 47-day siege that ended in the surrender of the city. Victory here and at Port Hudson, farther south in Louisiana, gave the Union control of the Mississippi River.

Battlefield

Park prepares campfire at Vicksburg Military Park (1975)

The park includes 1,325 historic monuments and markers, of historic trenches and earthworks, a tour road, a walking trail, two antebellum homes, 144 emplaced cannons, the restored gunboat USS ''Cairo'' (sunk on December 12, 1862, on the Yazoo River), and the Grant's Canal site, where the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...

attempted to build a canal to let their ships bypass Confederate

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieg ...

fire. The ''Cairo'', also known as the "Hardluck Ironclad," was the first U.S. ship in history to be sunk by a torpedo/mine. It was recovered from the Yazoo in 1964. The Illinois State Memorial has 47 steps, one for every day Vicksburg was besieged.

Campaign against Vicksburg

* Battle of Chickasaw Bayou * Battle of Arkansas Post * Battle of Grand Gulf (April 29, 1863) * Battle of Snyder's Bluff (April 29 – May 1) * Battle of Port Gibson (May 1) * Battle of Raymond (May 12) * Battle of Jackson (May 14) * Battle of Champion Hill (May 16) * Battle of Big Black River Bridge (May 17) * Siege of Vicksburg (May 18 – July 4)

Cemetery

The Vicksburg National Cemetery, is within the park. It has 18,244 interments (12,954 unidentified). The time period for Civil War interments was 1866 to 1874. The cemetery is not open to new interments. The cemetery has only one

Commonwealth war grave The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mi ...

, of an airman of

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

buried during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Grant's Canal

The remnants of Grant's Canal, a detached section of the military park, are located across from Vicksburg near Delta, Louisiana.

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Ulysses S. Grant ordered the project, started on June 27, 1862, as part of his Vicksburg Campaign, with two goals in mind. The first was to alter the course of the Mississippi River in order to bypass the Confederate guns at Vicksburg. For various technical reasons the project failed to meet this goal. The river did change course by itself on April 26, 1876. The project met its second goal, keeping troops occupied during the laborious maneuvering required to begin the Battle of Vicksburg.

Administrative history

The national military park was established on February 21, 1899, to ''commemorate the siege and defense of Vicksburg''. The park and cemetery were transferred from the War Department to the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government within the United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of ...

(NPS) on August 10, 1933. In the late 1950s, a portion of the park was transferred to the city as a local park in exchange for closing local roads running through the remainder of the park. It also allowed for the construction of

Interstate 20 Interstate 20 (I‑20) is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the Southern United States. I-20 runs beginning at an interchange with I-10 in Scroggins Draw, Texas, and ending at an interchange with I-95 in Florence, South Carolina. Bet ...

. The monuments in land transferred to the city are still maintained by the NPS. As with all historic areas administered by the NPS, the park was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...

on October 15, 1966. Over half a million visitors visit the park every year. In 2000 the Mississippi House of Representatives approved funding a monument to recognize African-American soldiers in the United States civil war.
Clipping
from Newspapers.com.

References

External links

*''The National Parks: Index 2001–2003''. Washington: U.S. Department of the Interior. * 601-262-2100 ** *Official NPS website
Vicksburg National Military Park
*Main park map link: *Grant's Canal map link: *Vicksburg National Cemetery map link:
Vicksburg National Military Park, National Park Service at Google Cultural Institute
* * * * Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) documentation, filed under Vicksburg, Warren County, MS: ** ** ** ** {{Authority control Protected areas established in 1899 Battlefields of the Western Theater of the American Civil War Protected areas of Madison Parish, Louisiana National Battlefields and Military Parks of the United States Protected areas on the Mississippi River Mississippi in the American Civil War American Civil War museums in Mississippi Historic American Engineering Record in Mississippi Museums in Warren County, Mississippi National Park Service areas in Mississippi National Park Service areas in Louisiana Protected areas of Warren County, Mississippi American Civil War on the National Register of Historic Places National Register of Historic Places in Madison Parish, Louisiana Conflict sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Mississippi National Register of Historic Places in Warren County, Mississippi Parks on the National Register of Historic Places in Mississippi Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries in the United States 1899 establishments in Mississippi Cemeteries on the National Register of Historic Places in Mississippi