{"id":23566,"date":"2021-03-22T11:40:10","date_gmt":"2021-03-22T18:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/?p=23566"},"modified":"2021-03-22T12:04:45","modified_gmt":"2021-03-22T19:04:45","slug":"vicksburg-national-military-park-u-s-national-park-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/vicksburg-national-military-park-u-s-national-park-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Vicksburg National Military Park (U.S. National Park Service)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Courtesy Vicksburg National Military Park<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Gibraltar of the Confederacy<\/h2>\n

Confederate President Jefferson Davis remarked, \u201cVicksburg is the nail-head that holds the South\u2019s two halves together.\u201d At the start of the Civil War, Confederates controlled the Mississippi River south of Cairo, Illinois all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. With its valuable commercial port and railroad hub, the <\/a>city was of tremendous importance. From points west of the Mississippi River, men, food, salt, and weapons, funneled through Mexico, made their way to Vicksburg and Confederate armies in the East.<\/p>\n

Confederate engineers capably fortified strategic positions like Vicksburg. With its riverfront artillery batteries and a ring of forts with over 170 cannons, the Confederate leadership was confident that Vicksburg was safe from Union incursions. Even from the north and east, the natural topography with a maze of swamps and bayous offered a seemingly impregnable defense that kept Union General Grant\u2019s army at bay for much of the eighteen-month campaign.<\/p>\n

President Abraham Lincoln also realized the necessity to capture Vicksburg. Remarking, \u201cVicksburg is the key the key! The war can never be brought to a close until that key is in our pocket.\u201d The capture of this \u201cGibraltar of the Confederacy\u201d was an immediate priority for Lincoln. If Vicksburg fell, Union forces could isolate Texas, Arkansas, and much of Louisiana, cutting off Confederate supplies and personnel. As the war progressed, Federal naval and ground forces pushed south from Illinois, and north from the Gulf of Mexico as they closed in on Vicksburg. In 1863, they set their sights on Vicksburg, the Fortress City. The fate of the Confederacy would lie largely with the fate of Vicksburg.<\/p>\n