Abraham Lincoln said "Vicksburg is the key and without this key in our pocket we will not bring this conflict to a resolution!" From the spring of 1862, until July 4th 1863, such larger than life figures of the Civil War as, David Glasgow Farragut, David Dixon Porter, William Tecumseh Sherman, and Ulysses S. Grant attempted to do just that. The campaign cumulated in the "Siege of Vicksburg" where for 47 days the best of the Union army and navy held Vicksburg in an ever tightening grip, while ill equipped and under fed Confederates bravely held out, waiting for relief that never came.

A tour of this hallowed ground will take you past over 1300 monuments, considered by many to be the finest outdoor art collection in the world. You will travel down the impressive Union siege line and see the formidable Confederate defensive forts.

Follow the path of the "forlorn hope" on their suicidal charge down the Graveyard Road. Stand upon the deck of the ironclad "U.S.S. Cairo" where you can almost hear the roar of her 13 big guns, bow your head in reverence to the 17,000 Union dead interred at the "Vicksburg National Military Cemetery" and gaze down from the heights of Fort Hill upon the historic course the river known to the Native Americans as "The Father of Waters".