The bluffs above the Mississippi made Vicksburg worth dying for, and for 47 days in the summer of 1863, men did exactly that. Grant ringed the city on May 18 and didn't leave until Pemberton's garrison surrendered on July 4 — the day the Confederacy was effectively severed at the river. Vicksburg didn't celebrate Independence Day again for 81 years. What the siege left behind is still here: 1,800 acres of battlefield, 20 miles of reconstructed trenches, and more than 1,400 monuments — the second-largest collection of outdoor sculpture in the country. The Shirley House, built in 1836, absorbed shell and bullet fire through all 47 days while the family stayed inside; it's the only wartime structure still standing on these lines. Illinois alone sent 36,325 men. The memorial built to hold their names has 60 steps — one for each day of the campaign.
