Salient Work at Vicksburg

[Vicksburger]

I was wondering if anyone down around Vicksburg way had ever explored the ground around the Salient work on Halls Ferry Road during the Winter season when vegetation is down? Bottom line: is it still there or not?What intrigues me is that some well known historians / park personnel have said the Salient Work, also referred to sometimes as the Georgia Salient, is "no longer extant". There was a thread in the past several years where 1st ms Arty took pictures during the summer, showing at least a Cummings Brigade marker and line marker for a Georgia regiment, but not in the same positions as when photographed around the turn of the century. Just curious as to how a civil war earthwork could just be abandoned or destroyed AFTER having been preserved and marked by the VNMP ? Call it a mild obsession of mine.

 

[TinCan]

Very good question. I've read that the Park Service, in order to make the park more, "tourist friendly", has moved or taken out things to make the park more in line with their programs.

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

This may or may not help answer your question, but here are some photos from 2013/2014 :

http://www.civilwaralbum.com/vicksburg/halls_ferry.htm

 

[mt155]

I should have read this post sooner. I was there just last weekend.

 

[Vicksburger]

I should have read this post sooner. I was there just last weekend.

Well if you make another visit during the winter months, I would be interested in what you could find in the brush and trees. Supposedly there should be the Federal third parallel, and the approach trench to the Salient work, and the Salient Work itself ( Confederate fort) may be somewhere in the brush/trees. I am too far away (Illinois) to go there during winter, although hope to visit there in summer someday. Last time there ( summer 2012) was before my minor obsession to find out how a historic civil war fortification ( the Salient Work on left of Hall's Ferry Road) can be "abandoned" by the Park Service and City of Vicksburg. Thanks anyway for the thought.

 

[Vicksburger]

This may or may not help answer your question, but here are some photos from 2013/2014 :

http://www.civilwaralbum.com/vicksburg/halls_ferry.htm

Yes I have to laugh at that one photo which purports to show a Confederate trench, if anyone can detect anything but vegetation, please let me know. But the pictures are pretty neat. Somewhere in that vegetation must be the salient work. I imagine the big tablet discussing the salient work itself was melted down during WW II, for the scrap drive. Then over the years it just got neglected, then turned over to the city in the 1960's, and really neglected. Parker Hills says there are trench markers for the Union third parallel and approach trench. On the 33rd Wisconsin (they were one of the regiments trying to capture the salient) website some guy says he stood in the trench in the 1990's and it was still deep enough to partially protect a person standing in it. General Hills suggested to the Vicksburg Mayor to make walking paths back to it, and the mayor just thought that was ridiculous. What a shame. But one of these days, probably when it is 106 degrees out in August, I will trudge through that vegetation, and see if I can find those trenches and Parallel!

 

[mt155]

I plan on going back in April so I'll tramp around there then. Should not be too hot.

 

[Vicksburger]

I plan on going back in April so I'll tramp around there then. Should not be too hot.

That would be great, vegetation maybe not too bad at that time, there should be iron posts for trench markers. Pictures would be great.

I would love to know if the high ground shown in this turn of the century photo is still there.

 

[Vicksburger]

Hey also could you take some close up pictures of this interesting Lunette I have been looking at on Google Earth, for some reason I never have gotten out and explored it, it looks original to me. The pictures on CivilWarAlbum are not very good, can't tell how high or defined it is. It is located between the Mississippi Monument, and the Tilghman monument. (Hope you are not sorry you told me you were going.)

 

[mt155]

I never mind taking pics of battlefields!

 

[Vicksburger]

Found this picture on Ebay: It says it is "Wisconsin Ave. Vicksburg Lauman's trench" Has date of 1960.

 

[Vicksburger]

Library of Congress has a 1902 topographical map of part of the Vicksburg siege lines, you can zoom in and out. It has 2nd Texas Lunette, R.R. Redoubt, Square Fort, etc.

 

[Vicksburger]

I plan on going back in April so I'll tramp around there then. Should not be too hot.

Did you ever get a chance to check out/take pics of the salient work or any other Vicksburg subjects?

 

[ole]

152 years later, trenchworks are not obvious. They have to be marked or you will walk over them without noticing them. If I recall correctly, I was in Vicksburg about six years ago and it was hard to discern that crater.

 

[AUG]

152 years later, trenchworks are not obvious. They have to be marked or you will walk over them without noticing them. If I recall correctly, I was in Vicksburg about six years ago and it was hard to discern that crater.

I don't think the crater still exists today - or does it? During my last visit I couldn't find it either, and apparently the large dip in the ground to the back of the 3rd Louisiana Redan isn't it.

There was actually a second, larger mine that was set off under the northeast side of the Louisiana Redan. Later I read that the day after the second explosion, the Confederates attempted to refill the crater from the second mine, but the Federals still held on to a portion of the first. If there was anything left of the two craters after the siege then I would guess they were probably filled in.

 

[ole]

I don't think the crater still exists today - or does it? During my last visit I couldn't find it either, and apparently the large dip in the ground to the back of the 3rd Louisiana Redan isn't it.

There was actually a second, larger mine that was set off under the northeast side of the Louisiana Redan. Later I read that the day after the second explosion, the Confederates attempted to refill the crater from the second mine, but the Federals still held on to a portion of the first. If there was anything left of the two craters after the siege then I would guess they were probably filled in.

It is there, AUG. It just takes some imagination to see what it must have been. The earth heals itself.

 

[AUG]

It is there, AUG. It just takes some imagination to see what it must have been. The earth heals itself.

Well sure, ole.... it is still there in that sense . The Siege of Vicksburg, with all its fortifications and earthworks, is probably one of the more difficult to picture. But visiting the battlefield, accompanied with research, really gives me a much better idea - at least for someone 150 years later.

 

[Vicksburger]

Well sure, ole.... it is still there in that sense . The Siege of Vicksburg, with all its fortifications and earthworks, is probably one of the more difficult to picture. But visiting the battlefield, accompanied with research, really gives me a much better idea - at least for someone 150 years later.

According to General Parker Hills, the big concave depression ("behind" where the 3rd Louisiana Redan was) is a natural, not man-made feature. But I sure can't see where the crater is/was, if that concave depression is not it.

 

[ole]

Well sure, ole.... it is still there in that sense . The Siege of Vicksburg, with all its fortifications and earthworks, is probably one of the more difficult to picture. But visiting the battlefield, accompanied with research, really gives me a much better idea - at least for someone 150 years later.

The soil in Mississippi is considerably different than that in Virginia. It is soft and goes away quickly.

 

[AUG]

The Crater is there...........i was standing in it when i took this picture toward the redan......its not obvious....but there is defiantly a depression in front of the redan.
View attachment 66185

Huh, well that's definitely where it would be. So I would guess that it must have flattened out over time, and was possibly filled in to some degree after the siege as well. The crater (the first one) wasn't all that big, only about 12 feet deep IIRC. As we know, the one at Petersburg was much larger, about 30 ft. deep, but now its about 1/3 of that size.