Vicksburg, Mississippi is a town with a bloody history. As a major Confederate stronghold strategically located on the Mississippi River – the South’s major supply line – it took beating after beating as Union troops tried repeatedly to capture the city during the US Civil War.

A lengthy and brutal siege by northern forces in the spring and early summer of 1863 eventually took its toll on the Confederate forces, as well as the beleaguered townsfolk, many of whom had taken refuge in caves dug into the surrounding hills as a way of avoiding the constant shelling.

Food supplies became scarce, and by the time the city fell, the city’s cat and dog population had almost completely vanished and civilians and soldiers alike were also resorting to eating mule meat and even rats.

Vicksburg fell to the North on July 4, one day after the Confederates suffered a bloody defeat at Gettysburg. Those two almost simultaneous Union victories marked the beginning of the end of the South’s dreams of independence.

Today, the Vicksburg National Military Park takes visitors on a 16 mile drive through the former battlefield on a well-signed route dotted with numbered plaques that mark sites of significant interest.

Stone markers commemorate spots where soldiers fell, and statues of leaders from both sides have been placed throughout the park. Each state that had soldiers fight in the battle for Vicksburg has a monument that honours their service and their sacrifice.

In fact, it seemed to me as though there was a plaque, statue or monument to commemorate just about everything…and according to the park website, the site is indeed one of the most heavily monumented in the world, with over 1330 monuments, markers, tablets, and plaques.

For civil war buffs, the Vicksburg Cemetery (photo at left) is very interesting with approximately 17,000 Union war dead buried in its grounds. Confederate war dead are buried in the Vicksburg City Cemetery (Cedar Hill Cemetery).

A special museum near the cemetery is dedicated to the USS Cairo, a Union gunboat that was sunk by a mine in 1862 (photo below). It was raised 102 years later, in 1964 and many of the artefacts found with it are now displayed in the museum. A replica of the boat using salvaged original parts has been built outside of the museum.

The park’s visitor centre has some interesting displays and a 20 minute movie that gives you some background on the battle before you set out. You can either buy a CD with info on each stop to play as you drive the route or you can read an abbreviated version in the park brochure.

They also advertise GPS handsets that are for rent – the handset will provide you with info appropriate to your location in the park – but when I asked about renting one, the lady informed me that their sets no longer work. Lightening had struck, she said, and now they were all broken – although she didn’t mention where or what the lightening had struck. Too bad for us; I was keen on trying out some newer museum technology, but it wasn’t meant to be so we made do with the brochure instead.