Dedicated:
January 11, 2005
SPONSOR: The
City of Vicksburg
& The Mississippi Arts Commission
VICKSBURG
NATIONAL MILITARY PARK:
"The World's Art Park and Best Marked Battlefield"
The
Vicksburg
National Military Park,
established by Congress on February 21, 1899, commemorates the
campaign, siege, and defense of Vicksburg during the Civil War.
The 1,800 acres of the park are dotted with over 1,300 monuments,
making it the "art
park of the world."
The
most impressive of the memorials is the Illinois Monument, which was
dedicated on October 26, 1906 and modeled after the Roman
Pantheon. On its walls are 60 bronze tablets which record the
names of the 36,325 Illinois soldiers who participated in the
Vicksburg campaign.
The
memorial was designed by William L. B. Jenney, who served as General
Sherman's chief engineer during the Vicksburg operations, and cost
$194,423.92.
The
Shirley House, to the right of the monument, is the only building in the
park that survived the siege. Built in the 1830's as Wexford Lodge
by attorney Nicholas Gray, the house remains a part of the
battlefield's landscape today.
The
idea for the park can be credited to Civil War veterans of the Blue
and Gray Association who, in 1895, formed the Vicksburg National
Military Park Association., Veterans helped to mark the
park, resulting in its recognition as one
of the world's most accurately marked battlefields.
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