Tour Stop #9 - Fort Hill

Historic photo of Confederate Avenue leading to Fort Hill showing the diversionary canal.

NPS

Quick Facts

Location:

Vicksburg, Mississippi

During the centuries-old struggle for control of the Mississippi, the flags of Great Britain, France, Spain, the United States, and the Confederacy have flown over this historic site where the bluffs meet the river.

The waterway below the bluffs is not the Mississippi River– it changed it course in 1876– but the Yazoo River Diversion Canal, which brings the Yazoo River into the old bed of the Mississippi at this point. Fort Hill, the northern anchor of the Confederate defense line, was one of the strongest works protecting Vicksburg. No Federal attack was ever made against it.

• Tour Stop #9 - Fort Hill

  
  

  This track discusses the importance of bluffs and the bend of Mississippi River propelling Vicksburg as a major focal point in the Western Confederacy.

  Date created:

  12/31/2021

  Audio Transcript

  In 1863, one would have seen an awesome sight: the great bend of the Mississippi River and the Union navy that sought to control it.

  This hill is the reason why Vicksburg became the focal point of the war in the western Confederacy, and from here the Confederates could halt all steamboat movement up and down the river.

  The river is no longer here, it changed course during a flood in 1876, but the hill remains, a silent witness to the battle.

  This hill was the northern end of the Confederate lines, and so strong that no infantry attack was ever made upon it.

  The Union Navy, however, did do battle with the Confederate gunners stationed here, and with the Water Battery, at the base of the hill near where the National Cemetery is today.

  On May 27, 1863, the ironclad gunboat U.S.S. Cincinnati, sister ship of the U.S.S. Cairo, came under fire from these Confederate batteries.

  For over thirty minutes the brave sailors took a pounding from the heavy Rebel guns before sinking in 18 feet of water near the top of the bend. This action marked the second time the Cincinnati was sunk during the war, and after the siege ended, she was raised again, and sent back to the flotilla for more service.