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Vicksburg

National Park Service

U.S. Department of the Interior

Vicksburg National Military Park

How Did TheySee Through All

Those Trees?

Battlefield Vistas

Then and Now

During the siege of Vicksburg, soldiers in blue and gray had a

unobstructed view of the opposing force from any point along thsiege and defense lines. But why are there so many trees on thbattlefield now?

Walnut HillsBefore European settlement, the areaaround Vicksburg was originally coveredby tall hardwood forest. The first thingEuropeans did was cut down the forest inorder to plant crops. With these hilltopsunder cultivation, they became bare of

trees, as did the side slopes gentle enoughto allow a man with a mule and plow towalk without falling into a ravine. Houseswere always located on ridge tops androads followed the ridgelines whereverpossible. And, from June 1862 on, mostavailable timber was used to constructfortifications along the 8-mile Confederatedefense line around Vicksburg. This wasthe landscape in 1863, and excludinggrowth in steep ravines, only scatteredtrees dotted the battlefield.

However, as soon as the protectingtrees were removed, the ridgetopfields began to erode away. Aftersome seventy-five years, a substantialproportion of the hilltop farmland habeen lost, with most farms in the area

abandoned between 1900 and 1920.The sides of the ridges were scarredwith fresh gullies and major ravineswere filled with silt that stayed wet anboggy - conditions quickly exploitedby native cane. These ravine bottomgrew into immense canebrakes,creating almost impenetrable thicketSlopes between the bottoms and opefields at the top were mostly coveredwith tangled scrub.

Stockade Redan, Graveyard Road, late 1930's.

Stockade Redan, Graveyard Road, today.

Hickenlooper statue (TourStop 3), 1920's.

Mississippi State Memorial,November 13, 1909. Mississippi State Memorial, to

Hickenlooper statue (TourStop 3), today.

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View of Old Jackson Road from observationtower, early 1900's.

Erosion Control

CCC Camps InVicksburg NationalMilitary Park

By 1933, erosion had become such aserious problem that it threatened thevery fabric of the Park. The CivilianConservation Corps (CCC) establishedfour camps to complete a series oferosion control projects. They installedconcrete drains, gutters and planted whatis now a dense forest for the sole purposeof controlling water runoff and

combating erosion. Sixty years later, weknow that course of action was onlypartially successful. Tree roots can holdsoil, but exposed roots only serve tochannel water from runoff. As older treesfall over from disease and wind damage,the exposed root systems create newpassages for water to flow.

Environmental technologies now enableus to maintain soil stability without trees,using grasses which are resilient and

quick growing. The National ParkService is now conducting vista-clearing projects to restore the historiscene, expose key terrain features andprovide access to monuments. On thSouth Loop, a 10-acre vista-clearingproject has exposed over twentymonuments, markers and tablets andgiven visitors a clear, unobstructed

view of opposing lines around FortGarrott. With this view of theformidable Confederate defenses, it isnow easy to understand andappreciate the difficult obstacles facedby the Union army approaching overthe steep, hilly landscape.

The accompanying photographsprovide a good visualization of thebattlefield area as it was then and now

Old Jackson Road, today.

E X P E R I E N C E Y O U R A M E R I C A