Vicksburg Battlefield - Battle of Vicksburg Online Tour

Online Tour of Vicksburg National Military Park - Vicksburg, Mississippi

ExploreSouthernHistory.com - Vicksburg National Military Park, Mississippi

Battery De Golyer
Vicksburg, National Military Park
Vicksburg, Mississippi

Battery De Golyer
Up to 22 pieces of Federal artillery were
positioned here to bombard the Confederate
"Great Redoubt," a fortification constructed to
guard the Jackson Road entrance to the city. The
battery was named in honor of Captain Samuel
De Golyer of the 8th Michigan Artillery who was
killed while directing the fire of guns here. The
battery today includes an impressive array of Civil
War field guns.

Shirley House
The only surviving wartime home in the national
park, the Shirley House stood in an area of
intense shelling. The 45th Illinois Infantry used the
home as its headquarters during the siege and
members of the unit dug hundreds of bombproof
shelters around the house to try to shield
themselves from Confederate artillery fire. The
home today is being stabilized and restored by the
National Park Service.

The Third Louisiana Redan
Just a few hundred yards from the Shirley House
is what remains of the Third Louisiana Redan, a
Confederate fortification constructed to defend the
Jackson Road entrance to Vicksburg. Union
soldiers dug tunnels under the fort and set off two
massive explosions here, hoping to blast a hole
in the Confederate lines. Southern troops heard
the digging and were ready. The effort failed. This
site became famous after the battle because an
enslaved African American, working on the fort,
was "blown to freedom" by the explosions. He flew
through the air and landed behind the Union lines.

The Stockade Redan Attack
This view shows the ground over which
Sherman's men advanced on May 19, 1863,
during the attack on the Confederate "Stockade
Redan" fortification. The Redan, visible as the
shaped earthwork in the photograph at left, was
too well-defended and Sherman's force was
thrown back with heavy losses. Union troops
advanced over this same ground again three days
later as part of a larger assault. The second
attacked also failed.

Thayer's Approach
This site preserves a tunnel and approach
trenches dug during the siege by soldiers under
Brigadier General John Thayer. The tunnel was
used to help Union soldiers avoid crossing a
pronounced ridge that would have placed them in
view of Confederate troops. It led to a zigzag
approach trench that snaked uphill towards the
Southern lines.

Vicksburg National Cemetery
The cemetery is the resting place of nearly 17,000
Union soldiers, many of whom died of battlefield
wounds or disease during the campaigns to take
Vicksburg. The Confederate dead from the siege
are buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery in the city. The
names of roughly 13,000 of the soldiers buried
here are unknown. The cemetery is located on
land that was part of the Union lines during the
battle. Also preserved on the grounds are several
Native American mounds.

Fort Hill
Located high atop the bluffs overlooking the
original channel of the Mississippi River (the river
changed course after the war, so the water seen
below today is part of the Yazoo River Diversion
Canal), Fort Hill anchored the northern end of the
Confederate lines. Cannon here helped sink the
Union gunboat Cincinnati on May 27, 1863. The
earthwork fort provides a spectacular view of the
countryside north and west of Vicksburg, including
the National Cemetery below.

Stockade Redan
The Stockade Redan, a pointed earthwork fort,
guarded the Graveyard Road entrance to
Vicksburg. This fortification was the target of a
major assault by Union troops under General
William Tecumseh Sherman on May 19, 1863.
Confederate troops in the Redan and its adjoining
trenches drove back the assault, inflicting heavy
losses on Sherman's men. A second assault,
three days later, ended in the same way.

The Great Redoubt
This massive earthwork fortification, now topped
by the Louisiana monument, was one of two
major defenses constructed to protect the
Jackson Road entrance to the city. The Redoubt
was one of the points targeted by the Union
general assault on May 22, 1863, but the attack
here was repulsed with heavy losses. Union
cannon in Battery De Golyer and other positions
bombarded this fort almost continually for the rest
of the siege, but it withstood the onslaught and
was manned by the Confederates until the end.

Second Texas Lunette
This Confederate fortification, called a "lunette"
because it was crescent shaped, protected the
Baldwin Ferry Road entrance to Vicksburg. Held
by the Second Texas Volunteer Infantry, the earth-
work was the scene of intense fighting during the
Union assault of May 22, 1863. By the end of the
siege, Union soldiers had dug trenches to within
15 feet of the fort and its defenders. The Jefferson
Davis Monument stands adjacent to the Lunette.

Railroad Redoubt
So-named because it protected the Southern
Railroad of Mississippi, the Railroad Redoubt
was the scene of some of the most brutal fighting
of the Battle of Vicksburg. Union troops stormed
the fort during the May 22nd assault, driving out its
Confederate defenders. Men from Waul's Texas
Legion counterattacked using their muskets as
clubs and artillery shells as hand grenades to
force back the Federals. The Texas monument
stands adjacent to the fort.

Fort Garrett
This Confederate fort was named in honor of
Colonel Isham W. Garrett. Infuriated by the toll
Union snipers were taking on his men of the 20th
Alabama Infantry, Garrett picked up a rifled musket
to return the enemy fire only to be shot through the
heart. He died without ever learning that he had
been promoted to the rank of brigadier general.
Defenders renamed the fort in his memory.

Shirley House
Vicksburg, National Military Park
Vicksburg, Mississippi