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A few months ago I had the chance to visit the Vicksburg National Military Park. Its not the first time I visited the park. Over the years I’ve visited maybe five or six times. On this last visit I realized after a few hours of stopping at many of the the monuments that I have never visited the Confederate monuments. Over the years and hours of taking the tour we never went all the way through. We always stop at the USS Cairo Gun Ship Museum. To complete the drive that includes both the northern and southern loops are over 13 miles long! During my visit to the park I took a lot of pictures and mostly of the northern monuments. Today, I want to share with some pictures and a little history about the battle and the monuments that were built.
The American Civil War – Casualties of War
If you know anything about American History then you know that the American Civil War was the most bloodies wars in American history. According to American Battle Field Trust an estimated 620,000 men lost their lives in the line of duty. That’s was 2% of the population! To put that in today’s perspective, that would by over 6 million lost lives if the Civil War happened today. Some believe the death toll was more around 850,000. These were just the lost of life that is counted, but there were other “casualties of war” and the estimated number was reported at 1.5 million! To learn more, see graphs and breaks downs of the casualties check out the American Battle Field Trust.
The Civil War
The Civil War was fought on American soil with Americans fighting Americans. That’s fathers fighting sons, brothers fighting brothers, families splitting up over what side they wanted to be on, and friends/neighbors turning on each other. Why this happened? The war happened for a variety of reasons, some over beliefs/way of life and others for political reasons. But I won’t get into that. If you want to know more, there is plenty of research, documentation, and people’s opinion on the why.
Fighting staring in 1861 when Confederate soldiers attacked Union forces at Fort Sumter in South Carolina and ended in 1865 with General Robert E. Lee surrendering to General Ulysses S. Grant at the Battle of Appomattox with other Southern generals surrendering over the next few months with last being on June 23rd.
At the time of the Civil War their were 34 states in the Union. Of those 34 states, 7 southern slave states succeeded. The confederacy gained control of a majority of territory in 11 states. It claimed Kentucky and Missouri or at least those choose to fight for the Confederacy and were fleeing Union troops. The two remain slave states, Delaware and Maryland were invited to join the Confederacy but the Union troops put a stop to it before they had chance to join. – Wiki.
Vicksburg National Military Park
The Vicksburg National Military Park was created to preserve the site of the Battle of Vicksburg and those that lost lives in the line of duty. The park and museum is located in Vicksburg, Mississippi. In additional to preserving the site of the battle, but it also documents and honors those that fought during the Greater Vicksburg Campaign that let up to the battle.
On February 21st, 1899 Congress established the Vicksburg Nation Military Park. The park has 1,325 monuments and markers, 20 miles of reconstructed trenches and earthworks, 16 miles of tour roads, antebellum home, 144 emplaced cannons, the USS Cairo Union Ironclad Gunboat that was recovered from the Yazoo River/
Location | Hours | Fees
The park is located at 3201 Clay Street Vicksburg, MS 39183 and the visitor center is open seven days a week from 8 am to till 5 pm everyday. The USS Cairo Museum is also open every day but opens at 8:30 am. The park itself is open from Sunrise to Sunset.
According the Vicksburg National Military Park Website 100% of the entrance fees goes back to the park for the maintenance of the park.
Fees as of 02/10/2020
Per Vehicle – $20.00 – Valid for 7 days
Per Individual – $10.00 – Pedestrian, biker, jogger, etc. that walks into the park. Does not apply for individuals driving in to walk the tour road.
Commercial Tours – $25.00 – (provided by non-NPS charter tour companies) 1-6 Person Capacity
Commercial Tours – $40.00 – (provided by non-NPS charter tour companies) – 7-25 Person Capacity
Commercial Tours – $100.00 – (provided by non-NPS charter tour companies) – Over 25 Person Capacity
Motorcycle – $15.00 – Per Motorcycle
Entrance Passes:
Vicksburg Annual Pass – $35.00 – Valid for one year from date of purchase; does not offer discounts at the cooperating association bookstores.
My Visit to Park
We arrived at the park mid morning and were there for about 3 or 4 hours and spent about 30 minutes in the museum learning more about the park and going over the history of the Battle of Vicksburg. As I mentioned before, the park was large enough that we weren’t able to see the whole park. During our visit, we visited the park museum, Northern Front monuments, the antebellum home, gun emplacements, and the USS Cairo Gun Ship Museum. I took a lot of pictures at each part I visited. Instead sharing a ton of pictures I will share a few pictures from each section of the park we visited, give a little details those stops and share the rest of pictures to galleries on Flickr.
The Vicksburg National Military Park Museum
The museum has a small display area with pictures and artifacts from both sides of the battle and a fact sheet about the commanding generals of the both sides. It even has a small recreation of the conditions the soldiers and civilians had to go through. In another part of the museum they have have several different short documentary movies that play throughout the day, and a park store.
Gun Emplacements and Earthworks
As I mentioned before there are over a 140 gun emplacements and 20 miles of earthworks/trenches. The gun emplacements were placed where historians believed the original guns may have been placed. The earthworks and trenches are reconstructed from the remains of the original trenches and earthworks as they would have been during the battle.
Antebellum Home – The Shirely House
The Shirely House is the only surviving structure of the the battle despite its location. It literally sits on the battle field. Vintage photos show the house surrounded by soldiers and trenching. The house at that time, was owned by James and Adeline Shirley, union sympathizers. The house was nearly fired in May of 1963 as the confederacy burned other structures that were in their line of site. But the soldier assigned to fire the house died before the fire could destroy the house.
Union Forces commonly referred to the house as the “White House” and became the Union headquarters of the 45th Illinois Infantry. The house survived the siege but was damaged. Federal Forces used the house as a smallpox hospital until it was abandoned 1964.
After the battle the Shirely family did not move back into the house due to severe damage making the house uninhabitable. Although the Shirely family kept ownership of the land and the house, the house sat abandoned until 1899. But with the establishment of the Vicksburg Military Park, the Federal Government was interested in purchasing the house and surrounding land that was used during the siege. In 1900 the family sold the land and property to the Federal Government. The Federal Government restored the house to pre-war and has under gone several restoration projects over the years.
During our visit, the house was closed and fenced off for another round of renovations.
Northern Front Monuments and Memorials
Most of the monuments and memorials were completed between 1913 and 1917 with others being completed over the years. One Civil War Veteran described the Vicksburg National Military Park as “the art park of the world” and I have to agree. Every monument to the simplest memorial plaque is a work of art. 14000 monuments and memorials dot the park’s landscape. Each one was designed and sponsored by veterans and the states involved. They are located where they were positioned during the siege and recolonize their service.
As I mentioned before, stopping at every monument, memorial, and gun emplacement takes more than 3 hours. Because of that we only had time to visit the Northern Monument and memorials. I stopped at most of them and some we drove by and took pictures from the car.
Below are a few of my favorite stops. I plan on doing a more detailed write up and picture for some of my favorite monuments.
USS Cairo Gun Ship Museum
The USS Cairo Gun Ship Museum has the partially restored gun ship on display out front. On the inside is a short walking tour that has documentation, stories from the surviving sailors, a short video of the salvage operation, and artifacts that were found on the river bottom in around the ship’s remains. This part of the tour took us only 30 to 40 minutes to walk through.
Tips for a Successful Trip
During the Summer and warmer days make sure to bring plenty of water and sunscreen. You will spend a lot of time walking and reading the plaques. You will only spend time in the car driving to the next stop and that’s normally only a few minutes drive to the next stop.
In the colder months, make sure to layer. Its the south, it could start off cold in the morning warm up to shorts weather in the afternoon, and cool off late in the afternoon. There’s a lot of open land and the wind cuts you like a knife. So bring a jacket that blocks the wind.
Like to take pictures, bring a camera with a wide angle lens and zoom lens (if you have it), and plenty of batteries to share your memories of your visit. Your phone can take good to decent photos, so make sure your cell phone is charged and you have a charger or a portable charger to keep your devices charged while a way from your car.
Final Thoughts
The Battle of Vicksburg and the Siege took a heavy toll on both sides. The park is here to honor them and reminder of our past. As a fan of history, I recommend visit the park if passing through Mississippi and in the area. Its an important part of our history and those that lost their lives should be honored and not forgotten. Even if you have to stay the night there are plenty of Civil War Era homes that have been converted to Bed and Breakfasts, casinos, tons of restaurants, museums, and more to see in Vicksburg.
As to the park, its beautifully maintained, with ongoing renovations, hiking trails, biking/walking paths (they share the road with the cars), guided tours, and self guided tours. When I was there last, there were local walkers/bikers, visitors exploring the park, and several small groups on field trips.
Over the years I’ve visited a handful of Civil War parks and the Vicksburg National Military Park is one of my favorites. I’ve visited park more than 5 times and still haven’t seen the whole park. I plan to visit the cemetery, the southern monuments and memorials my during my next visit.
About the Images
The images were shot during bright sunlight using my Sony a6000 and my Sony SELP18105G E PZ 18-105mm F4 G OSS with a UV Filter by hand or using my SunPak 6700m Monopod. I then edited the images with Adobe Lightroom CC and Topaz Labs Denoise AI and Topaz Labs Sharpen AI and DXO NIK Collection to clean up the image, remove noise, and recover the lost details.
The pictures from this visit plus future visit will be listed here – Flickr
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