Heading to Vicksburg tomorrow.

The Kentucky Monument:

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The Missouri Monument,I think. Correction: It is the Iowa Monument. :

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The Wisconsin and Illinois Monuments to the right. The Illinois Monument is a monster. I took a handful of closeup pics but I've seen better ones posted by other members in this forum. The best ones I got were from a distance and I think it is in a few I have already posted:

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Talking about a monster monument,the Navy Monument:

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Love the pictures! If it is not Indiana, it's probably Iowa. Was the picture taken in Southern part of park?
Looking at the sequence of my pics and the park map,it is the Indiana Monument. The one I posted,thinking it was the Missouri Monument,is actually the Iowa Monument. Both the Indiana and Iowa monuments are in the southern part of the park.
 
The Illinois Monument is a monster...

There were almost 40,000 Illinoisans at Vicksburg, the Army of the Tennessee was almost the Illinois Army ;-). The Army of the Potomac had only one Illinois infantry regiment, the 82nd, it was in the 11th Corps. The 82nd went west after Chickamauga and became part of the Army of the Cumberland, in the 20th Corps.
 
The Minnesota Monument was being worked on and I couldn't get a picture of it. Looking at the NPS map,I just now discovered there are some state monuments that I did not get pics of. There are 6 state monuments and the African-American Monument clustered in a relatively small area in the northeast part of the park. I remember driving through there with my guide in the morning and had intended to go back there later for pictures. Either I didn't make it back up there or I did and thought I had taken pics. Or I may have been in a hurry to get to the USS Cairo and the National Cemetery on the second pass through the park. :D It was a full day.
 
There were almost 40,000 Illinoisans at Vicksburg, the Army of the Tennessee was almost the Illinois Army ;-). The Army of the Potomac had only one Illinois infantry regiment, the 82nd, it was in the 11th Corps. The 82nd went west after Chickamauga and became part of the Army of the Cumberland, in the 20th Corps.
Yeah. There are a lotta smaller Illinois monuments at the park too.
 
The other factoid about the state monuments that I recall from my trip,according to my guide,is that some have been hit by lightning over the years and severely damaged. According to him,the repairs were done at considerable cost. I bet.
 
Right next to the Illinois Monument is Tour Stop #2: The Shirley House. I don't recall it being mentioned in the 2 books that I have read that are strictly about the Vicksburg Campaign. It is the only original structure in the park. I like the wartime picture on the interpretive sign.

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Tour Stop #5,Stockade Redan Attack is a very picturesque part of the field. It was a deadly part in 1863. According to my guide,here Union forces attacked the redan via a road instead of trying to scale the earthworks. They were mowed down by troops from Missouri,most of whom were survivors of the Battle Of Champion Hill.

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Tour Stop #3,Third Louisiana Redan. "The Crater" of Vicksburg. Wonder if Grant thought about it before he ok'd the same thing at Petersburg? Thumbnail pics this time.

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Here at Tour Stop #3 is where having a guide was a good thing for a first-timer like me. At the Third Louisiana Redan,the Union forces used 3 wooden mortars made with sweetgum logs,bored out and banded with iron. 2 of them were 12-pounders and one was a 6-pounder. They reportedly fired almost 500 rounds between them and were effective. I'm still not too personally knowledgeable about how Civil War mortars worked so don't ask me about they were mounted or fired. There is a marker below the Redan where the mortars were located. I researched them a little and found this:

http://www.reenactor.ru/ARH/PDF/Haydon.pdf



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There is a Jefferson Davis Monument at the NPS park. It was afternoon by the time I got to it for pics. Tried twice that afternoon but couldn't get real good pics of it. Gotta be there early in the day for that I guess.


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