Vicksburg National Military Park

Vicksburg National Military Park preserves the site of the American Civil War Battle of Vicksburg, waged from March 29 to July 4, 1863. The park, in Vicksburg, Mississippi and Delta, Louisiana, also commemorates the greater Vicksburg Campaign which preceded 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 gave the United States control of the Mississippi River.

Battlefield

The park includes 1,325 historic monuments and markers, 20 miles of historic trenches and earthworks, a 16-mile tour road, two antebellum homes, 144 emplaced cannon, restored gunboat USS Cairo, and the Grant's Canal site.

Cemetery

The 1,16.28 acre Vicksburg National Cemetery, is within the park. It has 18,244 interments (12,954 unidentified); grave space is not available. Date of Civil War interments: 1866-1874.

Grant's Canal

The remnants of Grant's Canal, a detached section of the military park, are located across from Vicksburg near Delta, Louisiana. Union Army Major General 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, Mississippi. For various technical reasons the project failed to meet this goal. The river did change course by itself on April 26, 1876. But the project did meet 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. The park and cemetery were transferred from the War Department to the National Park Service (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. The monuments in the transferred land 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 on October 15, 1966. Of the park's 1,736.47 acres (not including the cemetery) 1,729.63 acres are federally owned.

Reference

The National Parks: Index 2001-2003. Washington: U.S. Department of the Interior.

External links