Relocate Three Regimental Monuments

Vicksburg National Military Park » Relocate Three Regimental Monuments » Document List

The NPS and the Mississippi Army National Guard (MSNG) are collaborating to move three Civil War regimental markers from an isolated and largely inaccesible location to a site that will facilitate greater public access and appreciation and better resource stewarship. The monuments are located on land that was previously part of Vicksburg National Military Park, but that was deeded to the City of Vicksburg in the 1960s as part of a larger land exchange between the NPS & the city. The current site, once known as "Iowa Circle," is a wooded area with steep topography. It is located between Interstate Highway 20 and a busy retail development. Few people are even aware of the site; much fewer still visit the location.

The MSNG will assist in moving the monument as a training exercise. Because of the steep terrain, it was determined to be environmentally and economically preferable to use a CH-47 "Chinook" helicopter to lift the monuments from the hill (rather than to construct an access road with considerable ground disturbance). The helicopter will airlift the monuments about 1,000 feet to a drop zone. From that point they will be loaded on to flatbed trucks for transportation about 1.7 miles to a new location.

The new location is on land owned by the City of Vicksburg near Pemberton Plaza. The land is already home to several other Civil War monuments that were previously relocated to the site. The NPS will erect new footings and bases for reassembly of the monuments. The NPS also will erect a wayside that explains the importance of the monuments and that identifies their past (and original) location.

The MSNG has prepared environmental site assessments for both the current and proposed locations of the monuments.

Contact Information

Jim Jacobs