The historic port of VICKSBURG straddles a high bluff on a bend in the Mississippi, 44 miles west of Jackson. During the Civil War, its domination of the river halted Union shipping, and led Abraham Lincoln to call Vicksburg the "key to the Confederacy." It was a crucial target for General Ulysses S. Grant, who eventually landed to the south in the spring of 1863, circled inland and attacked from the east. After a 47-day siege, the outnumbered Confederates surrendered on the Fourth of July - a holiday Vicksburg declined to celebrate for the next hundred years - and Lincoln was able to rejoice that "the Father of Waters again goes unvexed to the sea." Vicksburg National Military Park (daily: summer 8am-7pm; rest of the year 8am-5pm; $4 per car), entered on US-80 (Clay St) just northeast of town, preserves the main battlefield. A sixteen-mile loop drive through the rippling green hillsides traces every contour of the Union and Confederate trenches, punctuated by statues, refurbished cannons and over 1600 state-by-state monuments. Also at the site are the substantial remains of the iron-clad USS Cairo , sunk by a mine in the Yazoo River, along with artifacts found when it was salvaged a century later, and the Vicksburg National Cemetery , where 13,000 of the 17,000 Union graves are simply marked "Unknown."
Vicksburg today is a bare but attractive city of precipitous streets, steep terraces and wooded ravines, its Victorian riverfront as yet unaffected by the impact of at least two floating casinos . As well as nineteenth-century homes, it offers the fascinating Old Court House Museum , 1008 Cherry St (summer Mon-Sat 8.30am-5pm, Sun 1.30-5pm; rest of year Mon-Sat 8.30am-4.30pm, Sun 1.30-4.30pm; $3), focusing largely on the siege; the victorious Grant, who returned as president in 1869, addressed thousands of ex-slaves from its balcony. At 1107 Washington St, a small museum (Sat 10am-4pm, Sun 1-4pm) marks the spot where Coca-Cola was first bottled, with vivid displays on how this came about.
