Vicksburg National Military Park

Vicksburg National Military Park is a 1,800-acre park established in 1899 commemorating the siege and defense of Vicksburg. The focus of Union land and naval operations along the Mississippi River, the city fell to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant on July 4, 1863 after a lengthy campaign and forty-seven-day siege. The fall of Vicksburg gave the Union control of the Mississippi River, severed a major Confederate supply line that ran east-west through Vicksburg, achieved a major objective of the Anaconda Plan and effectively sealed the fate of Richmond. The park boasts over 1,350 monuments and markers, including the historic Shirley House, Confederate forts, Union approaches, the restored Union ironclad gunboat Cairo and Vicksburg National Cemetery - the final resting place for more than 18,000 American soldiers and sailors.