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Special Feature: Remarkably preserved fortifications of one of the greatest sieges of modern times.

Illinois State Memorial, Vicksburg National Military Park.
(Photo by Grant)

TTHE battlefield military park at Vicksburg, Miss., was established as a national in 1899 to commemorate the campaign, siege, and defense of Vicksburg, one of the turning points of the war, and to preserve the ground where took place the battles and operations connected with the siege. There the Confederates made their last stand for control of the lower Mississippi River, the great highway to the sea for the Union States of the Middle West. There, on the high bluffs commanding a great bend in the stream, the Confederate batteries prevented the passage of Federal vessels and made impossible cooperation between Federal troops above and below the city.

Throughout 1862 Federal naval and military expeditions against Vicksburg failed. At the beginning of 1863 an army under General Grant descended the river to the Louisiana shore near Vicksburg, and assisted by a strong fleet under Admiral Porter strove for 3 months to cross the river and attack the city from the rear.

Failing in these efforts, Grant finally marched his army southward, crossed the river 30 miles below Vicksburg, and early in May 1863 established a position on the Mississippi side. From there he marched rapidly northeast and, in a series of five pitched battles, defeated and separated the armies of Joseph E. Johnston and Pemberton. On May 18 the latter was driven within the defenses of Vicksburg, to which Grant then laid siege. The siege was pushed vigorously for 47 days. Two desperate Federal assaults were repulsed by the defenders, whose elaborate system of earthworks encircling the city proved impregnable to direct attack. The Federal army then resorted to regular siege operations, subjecting the Confederate forts to an almost continuous bombardment. The city also was shelled by the fleet in the river, the inhabitants taking refuge in caves and cellars when the firing became intense. The expected relief from Johnston's army failed to materialize and at length, weakened by sickness and lack of food, the Confederates were compelled to surrender. On July 4 Grant's army entered Vicksburg. It was a victory for the North that, coming simultaneously with the one at Gettysburg, proved one of the decisive conflicts of the war.

Vicksburg National Military Park is noted among the world's battle fields for its distinctive topography and for the extensive remains of trenches and earthworks which render the military operations in the locality readily comprehensible. Today the visitor can traverse the remains of the Confederate works, and see, marching up the steep slopes before him, rows of markers indicating the positions attained by the Federal forces in their assaults and engineering operations. To an unusual degree the battlefield preserves and illustrates the heroic events which transpired there.

"The Railroad Redoubt", a Confederate earthwork, guarded the railroad running to Jackson. There occurred the heroic exploit of Sergeant Griffith and his 13 comrades of the Twenty-second Iowa who, during one of the assaults, succeeded in entering a breach in the fort and for a short time maintained their position within it. The party finally was driven out by the Confederates and Sergeant Griffith alone reached the Federal lines safely. Later the Federal approaches were pushed forward to within a few yards of the redoubt. Portions of its parapet, ditch, and glacis, and the lines of the Federal approaches still are visible.

"The Third Louisiana Redan" stood in the center of the field of operations, guarding the main highway to Jackson. It was named for the regiment which defended it during the siege. Having failed to capture the work by assault, the Federals constructed a sap before it, dug a mine beneath the parapet, and blew it up with a giant charge of powder. The explosion opened a large crater, into which rushed wave after wave of Federal troops, who for 3 days struggled to capture the redan. The Confederates rolled 12-pound shells down upon the valiant assailants in the crater with such deadly effect that the place became known as the "slaughter pen."

"Fort Hill", situated on the crest of a high bluff in the northern part of the park, overlooks the waterways above Vicksburg which today fill the course occupied by the river in 1863. At that point in 1791-98 was located the Spanish military post of Nogales, and there later was established Fort McHenry, to maintain the claims of the United States to this region. The view from Fort Hill includes both the river and the Vicksburg National Cemetery, and is one of the finest in the lower Mississippi Valley.

"The White House" or "Shirley House", which was damaged badly by shell fire during the siege, still stands near the center of the park. It has been restored and is used as park headquarters. The "Second Texas Lunette", defended by the gallant command of Col. Ashbel Smith; "The Stockade Redan" on Graveyard Road, scene of the bloodiest fighting during the siege; "Fort Garrott", in which Col. I. W. Garrott was killed; and "South Fort", overlooking the river to the south, are among other points of particular interest.

Situated on high ground between Walnut Hills and the river bend above Vicksburg, on the site occupied by the extreme right of the Federal besieging forces in 1863, is Vicksburg National Cemetery, a beautiful resting place for soldier dead. In it are buried more than 17,000 Union veterans of whom approximately three-fourths are unknown. On a mound in the center of the cemetery is the marble shaft which marks the spot where Grant and Pemberton met on July 3, 1863, to confer regarding a truce.

Few historical parks in the country compare with Vicksburg in number and beauty of memorials and monuments. Federal and State Governments have contributed generously to the erection of such tributes. The beautiful domed memorial of the State of Illinois; the high obelisk commemorating the part taken in the Vicksburg operations by the Federal fleet; the splendid equestrian statues of Grant, McClernand, and Tilghman; the statues of Jefferson Davis, Pemberton, Stephen D. Lee, and of the Massachusetts soldier; and the distinguished bronze bas-reliefs of the Iowa and Missouri memorials, are among outstanding works of art found there.

Vicksburg possesses an historical background which dates from the earliest European explorations of the sixteenth century. In 1542 the remnants of De Soto's expedition, returning from their wanderings in northern Mississippi and Arkansas, passed under the bluffs now surmounted by Fort Hill. Claimed by La Salle in the name of Louis XIV in 1683, the region was under the dominion of France until 1763. Then it became part of the British Empire until 1781, and from that time until 1798 was in the possession of Spain. Since passing under American control, the hills of Vicksburg have looked down upon the life of the expanding frontier, the great steamboat era on the Mississippi, the epochal events of the Civil War in the West, the troubled years of reconstruction, and the emergence of the new South of the twentieth century. Nearly all periods of American history are represented in the associations which Vicksburg National Military Park today brings to the minds of visitors.

Through the medium of miniature reconstructions and other graphic devices the Vicksburg Park Museum gives the visitor a realistic conception of the operations which took place there. Typical fortifications, gunboats, ordnance, and siege mechanisms portray dramatic incidents of the siege.

NEXT> Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park

Last Modified: Thurs, Nov 23 2000 10:00:00 pm PDT
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