Free Topo Maps of Vicksburg National Military Park

Download free topo maps of Vicksburg National Military Park. Use the adjoining 7.5 minute quadrangle legend to locate the Mississippi maps you need.

Adjoining 7.5' Quadrangle Legend

Vicksburg National Military Park

Vicksburg National Military Park is a treasure trove of historical information concerning the struggle for control of the Mississippi River during the Civil War. Within this Park you will find everything from a virtual museum exhibit to the restored USS Cairo Gunboat housed in a museum with recovered artifacts from this sunken gunboat. The sixteen mile tour road passes both Confederate and Union lines with wayside exhibits, plus trails along the road taking visitors to points of interest and some more primitive trails that parallel the tour road. The Clay Street Visitor Center offers brochures and trail maps for self-guided tours and hikes, as well as cell phone tours. Tour road brochures are also given to everyone at the entrance to the Military Park. There is a National Cemetery along the tour road as well as over 1300 monuments. History about the sinking of the Cairo, life in Vicksburg during the siege of the city by the Union Army in 1863, views of the battlefield, the Confederate commander's headquarters in Vicksburg and daily life aboard the Cairo are all offered during your visit. Guided tours and Living History Programs are offered providing further insight into the Civil War and the military actions during those eventful days of the siege and surrender of the Confederates who were entrenched in Vicksburg. Living History also offers artillery and musket rifle demonstrations. Learn about Grant's Canal and why this measure was unsuccessful, visit the riverfront sites; these are the Detached Units at Navy Circle or Louisiana Circle and South Fort. Monuments include the Mississippi African American memorial to those black freemen and slaves who served in both the North and South during the Civil War. The Vicksburg campaign included over 100,000 troops with battles on land and water in the regions surrounding Vicksburg, which was known as "The Gibraltar of the Confederacy" due to its seemingly impregnable location high on the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River. The conflicts waged in the regions near Vicksburg were besieged in unison with the assault on the city in order for the victory to give the Union undisputed control of the activity on the Mississippi, a key component to the eventual outcome to the Civil War. With the emphasis on the military aspects of this Park, the Park Services also tries to let visitors know that the Park includes significant natural resources, where even prehistoric animals are revealed in the limestone which has been exposed by the waterways; and some very old second-growth trees can be found there, with threatened bald eagles and plant life of special biological concern.