Vicksburg National Military Park
"Vicksburg is the nail head that holds the South's two halves together...Vicksburg is the key"
Two statements, two Presidents, both aware of the importance of the city on the Mississippi River. President Davis knew it was vital to hold the city for the Confederacy to survive. President Lincoln wanted the key to gain control of the river and divide the South. Vicksburg National Military Park commemorates this campaign and its significance as a critical turning point of the Civil War.
Things To Do
Clay Street Visitor Center
The VISITOR CENTER offers general and historical information services, orientation film, exhibits on various topics of the Civil War period, bookstore, restroom facilities, and regional (city/county) information.
USS Cairo Gunboat Exhibit and Museum
The USS CAIRO MUSEUM AND GUNBOAT offers general and historical information services, exhibits on naval operations of the Civil War, bookstore, restroom facilities, and picnic area. Artifacts on display are a time capsule of life aboard an ironclad gunboat. Sailors' personal possessions, cookware, medical supplies, and weaponry are featured. A six-minute video explains the sinking, discovery, and salvage operations of the gunboat.
Three DETACHED UNITS include the riverfront batteries at Navy Circle, South Fort, and Louisiana Circle. Across the Mississippi River is the last remaining section of Grant's Canal, where Union forces attempted to bypass Vicksburg by digging a channel through DeSoto Point. Exhibits include an historic state highway marker, bronze tablet and wayside exhibits on Williams Canal, Grant's Canal, and Black Troops at Milliken's Bend, and the Connecticut State Monument, dedicated in 2008.
HERITAGE GARDEN - Located on Pemberton Avenue approximately one mile from the park's main entrance, the Heritage Garden was established to provide an outdoor classroom, available for school groups as well as adult education classes year-round. Funded through the National Park Service Parks as Classrooms® program, the Heritage Garden is based on the typical Victorian-era kitchen garden, flower beds, and traditional commodities grown on 19th-century southern farms.
A 16-mile TOUR ROAD parallels Union siege and Confederate defensive lines, with three interconnecting roadways, 15 designated Tour Stops, wayside markers and exhibits, short spur trails to points of interest, and several Boy Scout hiking trails including, a primitive 12-mile compass trail, and 7- and 14-mile treks that follow the park tour road
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