Vicksburg National Miltary Park

Vicksburg National Military Park

I thought I'd share some shots from one of our favorite places. It's right here in the heart of Vicksburg called the Vicksburg National Military Park. The park commemorates the campaign, siege, and defense of Vicksburg during Civil War. The city's surrender was on July 4, 1863.There are over 1370 monuments, a restored Union gunboat, and a National Cemetery. It's a 16 mile tour road. We sometimes get there when the gates open at 7AM chasing that ever elusive daybreak magic light. There is always something new that we find. Also there are deer, turkeys and other wild life that you can catch with the camera if you're lucky. The monuments are amazing. Here are some photos of different parts of the park to give a little taste.

One of the many, many monuments

If you like cannons this the place for you. They are everywhere you look.

Each state that was in the war erected there own monuments in the park. Here it the Illinois State monument which has the names of 36,000 soldiers on engraved on the walls. Pretty stunning.

More Cannons

Another Stately monument

The USS Cairo (pronounced Care-o), a Union ironclad commanded by Thomas O. Selfridge, Jr., was named for Cairo, Illinois, and commissioned on January 16, 1862. On December 12, 1862, in the Yazoo River north of Vicksburg, Cairo struck two underwater torpedoes (today called mines) sinking in less than 12 minutes with no loss of life. Preserved by mud and silt, Cairo sat on the bottom of the Yazoo River for 102 years. It was raised in 1964, and later restored. The ironclad is now on display within Vicksburg National Military Park.

Vicksburg National Cemetery encompasses 117.85 acres and includes over 18,000 interments.  Graves of Civil War soldiers total 17,077, of which 12,909 are unknown.  An additional 1,280 graves are occupied by soldiers who participated in the Indian Wars, Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, and the Korean Conflict.