Showing results for "Vicksburg"
In the Wake of Shiloh, Something to Consider about Vicksburg
In the wake of the Confederate loss at Shiloh, Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard worried about his situation. Expecting the Federals to press their advantage, he sent pleas to Richmond for additional reinforcements. On April 10, 1862, Robert E. Lee, serving as Jefferson Davis’s military advisor, responded to Beauregard’s entreaties with a telegram to Gen. John C. […]
Read more...ECW Weekender: Living History at Vicksburg
If you’re braving the summer heat in Mississippi to visit this siege and Union victory site, you’ll be pleased to know that this summer (2019), Vicksburg National Military Park is offering living history programs on the weekends! Here’s the scoop:
Read more...“Independence Forever”–except in Vicksburg
To commemorate 1826’s July Fourth celebrations in Quincy, Massachusetts—which marked the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence—the organizing committee approached the town’s elder statesman, John Adams. Adams, the single most important voice of the independence movement in the Second Continental Congress, was by that time one of only three surviving signers of the Declaration […]
Read more...Vicksburg or Gettysburg? LeRoy Gresham’s Words
It’s a long and continuing debate. Vicksburg or Gettysburg? Which is more important? Or are they inseparable? Certainly, Gettysburg tends to overshadow Vicksburg in public history interest. But how did people of the 1860’s view the two events? Pondering this one evening, I decided to pull out LeRoy Gresham’s diary and see if he left […]
Read more...“We will go into the city of Vicksburgh after awhile…”
Nothing quite like a letter to explain what the situation was really like for the common soldier, and here’s a good one from the Siege of Vicksburg. The spelling and punctuation is original. In Camp, Siege of Vicksburg, June 9, 1863 Dear wife, We are still tunneling away at the rebel works around the city […]
Read more...Saving History Saturday: Friends of Vicksburg Raising Funds to Repair Damaged Monument
Just last month, Mississippi was ravaged by a series of severe storms, including many tornadoes. On April 13, several tornadoes touched down throughout the state, resulting in three that hit in Vicksburg’s vicinity alone. Not only did storms destroy numerous buildings in town, two of the tornadoes ripped through Vicksburg National Military Park. Only one […]
Read more...“Blowed to Freedom!”: Abraham and the Vicksburg Mine
Every February ECW does a series of posts about African Americans and the Civil War. There are many from which to choose, but I have made it my mission, as it were, to find those who are not as well known as, say, Frederick Douglass. This first offering is a story verified in several places […]
Read more...“Turning Points” on C-SPAN: Atkinson on Gettysburg/Vicksburg
We received word today from our friends at C-SPAN that the first segment from our Fifth Annual Emerging Civil War Symposium at Stevenson Ridge will air this weekend. Tune in to C-SPAN 3’s “American History TV” at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday for Matt Atkinson’s “Gettysburg & Vicksburg as Turning Points.” It’ll then re-air in the […]
Read more...Vicksburg NMP Brings Back Black Powder
by ECW Correspondent Katherine Duffek Have you ever wondered what it would be like to see and hear cannon and musket fire in real life instead of just in the movies? Well, at Vicksburg National Military Park, visitors can go to the park’s black powder program and watch historians dress up as Civil War soldiers […]
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