Vicksburg National Military Park, Mississippi
A view of Civil War earthworks, cannon and the Michigan monument in Vicksburg National Military Park, Mississippi. Vicksburg was key to control of the Mississippi River and the South during the Civil War. The Union’s victory here in July 1863 after a 47-day siege was a critical turning point.
Smithsonian connection: Smithsonian physical anthropologists are sometimes called upon to work with National Park Service researchers to locate and identify military remains discovered on battlefields in unmarked graves and surgeon pits. These investigations help memorialize the dead and document the human cost of the Civil War.
Photo by Carol M.Highsmith