Vicksburg National Military Park

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water turkey
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8:18p, 12/19/22
Toured today in a cold drizzle. Pretty awesome.

My GG grandfather was captured at Post, Arkansas, which if I understand, was just before the siege of Vicksburg. I found my gg grandfathers grave at Parish Barracks in St. Louis earlier this year.

So, even after Gettysburg, it was the fall of Vicksburg that was really the final blow, splitting the Confederacy and loosing the shipping of supplies up from the Gulf?

I couldn't take pictures because if the rain.
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JABQ04
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In reply to water turkey • 8:26p, 12/19/22
AG
Did you visit the Cairo?
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water turkey
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8:29p, 12/19/22
I wasn't able today. I drove the tour. Going back tomorrow, hopefully not in the rain.
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one safe place
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9:16p, 12/19/22
My wife's GG grandfather was mayor of Vicksburg during the seige.

There is a nice (small) museum in Vicksburg, don't recall the name of it, but put together by a guy with an interest in the Civil War. Pretty impressive I thought.
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chick79
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6:35a, 12/20/22
AG
Love it there. Beautiful countryside and the monuments (mostly Union states) are amazing. Went there about six years ago on the way to Aggie v Hail State game. Definitely recommend.
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p_bubel
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10:30a, 12/20/22
It's a humbling place to visit. The terrain was shocking to me.

I made it through there on the way back from the Georgia game.
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p_bubel
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10:33a, 12/20/22





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Sapper Redux
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3:33p, 12/20/22
It's harder today to get a real sense of Vicksburg's prominence and the danger of the US Navy's run past the town because the Mississippi has shifted course away from the city. Still an impressive park. Grant's campaign to Vicksburg is, in my opinion, the most impressive campaign of the war and arguably in American military history. The Tullahoma Campaign is the only competition.
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Smeghead4761
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11:00p, 12/20/22
Vicksburg and Shiloh are at the top of my list of Civil War battlefields I want to visit. I'd actually like to do Grant's entire Vicksburg campaign, from the crossing the Mississippi through to Vicksburg.
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BillYeoman
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10:56a, 12/21/22
Vicksburg is great. Downtown Vicksburg Courthouse is an interesting visit as well. I love that town

For food…. Beechwood Inn is great for steaks.
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tmaggies
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In reply to water turkey • 7:25p, 12/21/22
AG
Was he in the 24th Texas Cavalry? My GG Grandfather was also captured at Arkansas Post and sent to Gratiot in St Louis and later exchanged. Spent the remainder of the war with the Army of Tennessee. They might have actually known each other.
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water turkey
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8:44p, 12/21/22
He died at Gratiot in St. Louis. Buried in Jefferson Barracks.
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tmaggies
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9:37p, 12/21/22
AG
From what I understand only the sick and severely wounded went to Gratiot. My relative was with the Danville Mounted Rifleman and was sent to Camp Carter near Hempstead. Just toured Arkansas Post after Thanksgiving.




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doubledog
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In reply to water turkey • 11:56a, 12/22/22
water turkey said:

So, even after Gettysburg, it was the fall of Vicksburg that was really the final blow, splitting the Confederacy and loosing the shipping of supplies up from the Gulf?
Splitting the Confederacy yes. The fall of Vicksburg and Port Hudson did stop shipping from Texas/Arkansas/North LA (down the Red River, then north on the MS river to Vicksburg).

It also allowed shipping from the Midwest (Union), down the Mississippi river to the port of New Orleans and then to the Gulf, which was the least expensive means to ship goods outside of the US (not including CA).

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JABQ04
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12:26p, 12/22/22
AG
I need to visit Vicksburg
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Charles Hickson Knows
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In reply to water turkey • 7:55a, 12/27/22
water turkey said:
Toured today in a cold drizzle. Pretty awesome.

My GG grandfather was captured at Post, Arkansas, which if I understand, was just before the siege of Vicksburg. I found my gg grandfathers grave at Parish Barracks in St. Louis earlier this year.

So, even after Gettysburg, it was the fall of Vicksburg that was really the final blow, splitting the Confederacy and loosing the shipping of supplies up from the Gulf?

I couldn't take pictures because if the rain.
Good thing it was the final blow.
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Rabid Cougar
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In reply to JABQ04 • 3:19p, 1/4/23
AG
JABQ04 said:
I need to visit Vicksburg
Yes you do. It's 6 hours away... GO!
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JABQ04
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In reply to Rabid Cougar • 3:36p, 1/4/23
AG
Rabid Cougar said:
JABQ04 said:
I need to visit Vicksburg
Yes you do. It's 6 hours away... GO!


Just have to get time. It's going to be rough the first 6 months this year
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BQ78
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4:11p, 1/4/23
AG
Unfortunately a large section of the Union northern lines are closed due to severe erosion during the storms of 2020 and 2021 see:

https://www.vicksburgpost.com/2022/11/04/battlefield-trust-campaign-to-raise-awareness-of-erosion-at-vicksburg-national-military-park/
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Wahoo82
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8:14p, 1/4/23
AG
Duff Green Mansion B&B
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gigemhilo
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In reply to p_bubel • 7:07a, 1/7/23
AG
p_bubel said:
It's a humbling place to visit. The terrain was shocking to me.

I made it through there on the way back from the Georgia game.
Agree - the terrain was not what I was expecting. When I thought of a siege of a city, I was not thinking thick woods and steep hills.
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BQ78
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In reply to gigemhilo • 1:35p, 1/7/23
AG
Thick woods weren't there in 1863.
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gigemhilo
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In reply to BQ78 • 3:26p, 1/8/23
AG
BQ78 said:
Thick woods weren't there in 1863.
Interesting - did not know that! still the steep terrain was surprising.
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BQ78
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In reply to gigemhilo • 3:35p, 1/8/23
AG
Yes, the terrain is quite surprising the first time you see it. Most of the siege line was farmland in 1860. When the defenses were constructed in 1862 any tree lots were cleared to build the breastworks or just cleared to open fields of fire.
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KingofHazor
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3:05p, 1/9/23
My sister and her husband lived in Vicksburg back in the 80s. I was surprised at the trenches right through neighborhoods and the memorials everywhere, even in people's yards.
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TRD-Ferguson
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In reply to KingofHazor • 4:04p, 1/9/23
AG
My family is from that area going back to the late 1700's/early 1800's. You can walk almost any area down to Port Gibson and encounter similar markers, etc. We'd play "Army" when we were kids and try to simulate what we read on the markers! Can't even recall the number of items we found and then lost in those woods!
.
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Buck Turgidson
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In reply to gigemhilo • 7:30p, 1/9/23
gigemhilo said:
BQ78 said:
Thick woods weren't there in 1863.
Interesting - did not know that! still the steep terrain was surprising.


I've been twice and it's hard to visualize what it looked like then without all the trees. I picture more of a bombed out hellscape like a WWI battlefield filled with muddy earthworks and craters.
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Rabid Cougar
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10:22a, 1/10/23
AG
The Park Service is actually going in and removing stands of trees that were "not there" in other battlefield parks. This is an effort to return the views to what they looked like at the time of the battles.


In regards to the "landscape" at the time of the battle, you have to remember Vicksburg only lasted 44 days but it was a true siege. There was noting going in or out. However, you didn't an overly long period of shelling over the same ground like Petersburg.

Petersburg lasted 300 days but it was not a true siege. Goods and material where being transported in on a daily basis until the very last day when the supply line/line of retreat was threatened.
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p_bubel
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1:51p, 1/10/23

Castle Battery, built just after the siege.


The Shirley House, circa 1863


Battery Sherman, 1864

Link
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BQ78
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2:45p, 1/10/23
AG


Here is another photograph just after the siege, which is taken from almost the same spot as the Shirley House picture above but the photographer pivoted 90 degrees to his left. You see the top of the hill that was the 3rd Louisiana Redan that had a mine blown under it on June 25. To the center left is Coonskin's Tower. Coonskin was a lieutenant in the 23rd Indiana named Henry Foster who was a great sharpshooter. Toward the end of the siege Coonskin built his tower that allowed him to look right into the 3rd Louisiana Redan and pick off anyone who showed a body part. Below is a contemporary sketch of General Black Jack Logan watching the mine explosion on the 25th but it closely resembles the photograph (also showing Coonskin's tower). Both show that the terrain was rolling but pretty much stripped of vegetation.


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KingofHazor
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2:53p, 1/10/23
Thanks guys for posting those pics. Very interesting!

They also make me glad that I wasn't around during those days!
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Smeghead4761
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1:27a, 1/11/23
During the Civil War, or any other war during that time period, any time armies stopped in one place for any appreciable length of time, that area around them would be stripped of trees and vegetation, with the wood used for cooking and warming fires, as well as to build fortifications and shelters.

The longer the armies remained stationary, the further the denuded area would spread.

So it's quite unsurprising that the area around Vicksburg would have been stripped of vegetation.
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BQ78
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In reply to Smeghead4761 • 8:17a, 1/11/23
AG
Your fact is true about the armies but in the case of Vicksburg it happened before any appreciable troops arrived. The area was cleared by slaves when the fortifications were built.
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gigemhilo
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In reply to Smeghead4761 • 9:30a, 1/11/23
AG
Smeghead4761 said:
During the Civil War, or any other war during that time period, any time armies stopped in one place for any appreciable length of time, that area around them would be stripped of trees and vegetation, with the wood used for cooking and warming fires, as well as to build fortifications and shelters.

The longer the armies remained stationary, the further the denuded area would spread.

So it's quite unsurprising that the area around Vicksburg would have been stripped of vegetation.
I hadn't thought of that but obviously makes total sense
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Bunk Moreland
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4:31p, 1/11/23
I also did Vicksburg last year (cold drizzle as well), along with Harper's Ferry, Gettysburg and Antietam.

Recommend all.



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