Vicksburg is a city in Warren County, Mississippi, 234 miles (377 km) north by west of New Orleans on the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers.
The Mississippi River has played an important role in the history of Vicksburg and continues to be an important draw for locals and visitors alike. During the Civil War, Union troops fought a protracted siege to wrest control of this strategic point from the Confederacy. The Union victory at Vicksburg became one of the turning points of the war and today visitors can explore the history of the battle at the Vicksburg National Military Park, which hosts over 1,300 monuments as well as the remains of an actual Civil War-era gunboat, the U.S.S. Cairo. |