Marathon Pundit: My Mississippi Manifest Destiny: Vicksburg Battlefield, Part Two, State Memorials

Saturday, June 28, 2008

My Mississippi Manifest Destiny: Vicksburg Battlefield, Part Two, State Memorials

Vicksburg of course was the most important battle in the western theater of the Civil War, so it's not surprising that the military park is populated with memorials dedicated not just to individual regiments, but also to entire states that sent troops to the 1863 battle.

Of the border states, Confederate states, and states that remained loyal to the union, as far as I can gather, each state that sent troops to fight in this pivotal battle has a memorial at Vicksburg. Ohio is the exception, which is surprising, because many Ohioans fought there.

Within the military park, there are two main roads, both crescent shaped. Union Avenue closely traces the Northern lines of the Vicksburg siege, it's faced by Confederate Avenue--which of course serves the same purpose for the onetime rebel positions.

Up on top is the Wisconsin Memorial, with Old Abe, the bald eagle mascot of the 8th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Old Abe was captured in northern Wisconsin in 1861, and accompanied the Wisconsinites in numerous engagements until 1864, when he returned to his native state. The eagle died in 1881, but is immortalized as the eagle whose profile makes up the insignia of the 101st Airborne Division, the "Screaming Eagles."

Since my last travel series featured Kansas, there is no way that I could overlook the memorial, pictured on the right, to soldiers from the Sunflower State. Arguably, the Civil War began not at Fort Sumter in 1961, but a few years earlier in "Bleeding Kansas."

On the lower left is the Massachusetts Memorial, erected in 1903, the first state monument built within the park. What appears to be a cross below the soldier is actually discoloration from a placard. However, the Arkansas Memorial has a cross.

Where are the Confederate Memorials? I spent the next morning on Confederate Avenue, and it was dark and cloudy--and my pictures didn't turn out very well. So on the right is another view--I included the column in my first Vicksburg post--of the Louisiana Memorial. The blue sign in the foreground marks the line of Major General John A. Logan's Union line.