Gaining control of the Mississippi River port city of Vicksburg was an important but difficult goal of the Union Army. The city was protected by a bluff at the river front and bayous, swamps, and hills on the north, south, and east sides. After several unsuccessful and bloody campaigns, Grant’s army settled in for a 46 day siege which ended with the Confederate army, sick and starving, surrendering on July 4,1863. A 16 mile self-guided driving tour along the siege lines will take you past elaborate memorials erected by each state after the war. The park also has a visitor center with a movie plus a few exhibits and a small museum with an outdoor display of the reconstructed Union gunboat, the U.S.S. Cairo, which spent 100 years sunk in the Mississippi mud.
Most of the signs and monuments along the driving tour can be easily seen from your vehicle. The visitor center, museum, and gunboat exhibit (long ramps) are all accessible.
The visitor center and the museum parking lots are large enough for RVs. The driving tour road does not have any posted limits for weight or length but because the route is windy and hilly people with large RVs may want to leave them in the visitor center lot and use a smaller vehicle. Park
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