The Mississippi River Bridge at Vicksburg

Just on a whim last Christmas we changed our 'route' home from visiting relatives in Memphis. Instead of driving the most direct route, we opted to drive down river to Vicksburg then drive West back to home. We stayed the night in Vicksburg and immediately knew that we wanted to 'spend some time' there -- when we had the time. It is a charming town. Fast forward to Summer 2001. We scheduled to stop over for a short visit in Vicksburg. This page is about the things what we saw while visiting Vicksburg. The page is loaded with photos and may take a few moments to load...
The drive through the park
The drive through the park
The Vicksburg National Military Park is probably the most visited place in Vicksburg. The park details the Battle for Vicksburg fought in 1863 .

Operated by the National Park Service, the park covers a drive of 16 miles through the actual battlefield. Markers indicate where the individual military units were deployed and how the battle [a series of battles actually] progressed.

The National Park Service has done an outstanding job of restoring and preserving this site. Many states that sent it's sons to fight in this battle have built memorials at the park to honor it's dead. Each state memorial is unique. Some are impressive others are no more than a simple marker.

   Union Monuments:
Minnesota Monument
Minnesota
Navy Monument
Navy
Wisconsin Monument
Wisconsin

inside the Dome
Illinois:

The most impressive Monument in the Park is the Illinois Memorial.

In the photo in the bottom the plaques that are on the walls lists the names of the Illinois solders.

the Illinois Monument
The Illinois Monument

the plaques inside the dome
The inside of the Illinois Memorial

   Confederate Monuments:

My initial reaction was 'Where are they?' How come most of the money went into memorials for Union soldiers? I then came to the conclusion that the States paid for the monuments for their honored dead -- not the Federal Government.

Only two Confederate States had monuments that were of the same scale as their Union counter parts.

Mississippi's [to the right] monument honors the men who died defending their home soil.

Missouri's [bottom] monument is a tribute to their lost soldiers.


Missouri Monument


Mississippi Monument
   The Honored Dead:
The battle for Vicksburg was one of the most costly engagements of the Civil War. It lasted over a month and had over 20,000 casualties.

 

 

Numbers are hard to visualize for most people. The real impact is seeing the Graveyard [below].

the final count
the Union Graveyard

The Vicksburg National Military Park is a 'must see' for anyone passing through this area. The National Park Service has a web site for the park that you can visit.

Vicksburg also contains several river front casinos and some factory outlet stores... In other words, it has something of interest to the typical tourist.

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