Vicksburg National Military Park Unveils Replacement Battlefield Tablets

Vicksburg National Military Park Media Advisory

On Thursday, October 30 at 10 a.m., Vicksburg National Military Park will host Secretary of the Department of the Interior, Dirk Kempthorne and country star Trace Adkins to unveil replacement historical battlefield tablets as part of a Centennial Partnership Celebration sponsored by the National Park Service. National Park Service Director Mary A. Bomar and John Nau, Chairman of the National Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, will also speak to those in attendance. The event is free and open to the public.

The Centennial Initiative, launched by the National Park Service in 2007, is a ten-year program to reinvigorate America’s national parks and prepare them for a second century of service by embracing new constituents and gaining support from a broad array of public and private partners. The National Park Service, which manages 391 park units across the nation, including Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, marks its centennial in 2016.

“The Secretary and I are delighted to showcase Vicksburg National Military Park and its successful partnerships in preserving the national treasures entrusted to our care,” said Director Bomar. “Partnerships such as these are a key to enhancing stewardship of our parks for the benefit of future generations.”

Secretary Kempthorne will be the keynote speaker at the celebration of the Vicksburg Centennial Challenge Project sponsored by the Friends of the Vicksburg National Military Park and Campaign. The project matches $71,000 of private donations with $71,000 of Federal funding for tablet replacement and to conserve the magnificent array of bronze statuary and stone monuments that make Vicksburg, in the words of one Civil War veteran, “the Art Park of the world.”

Trace Adkins will join Secretary Kempthorne to unveil the first group of interpretive tablets replacing those that were removed in 1942 as part of the scrap metal drive in support of

America’s efforts during World War II.  Adkins had an ancestor who served in the 31^st Louisiana Volunteer Infantry during the Siege of Vicksburg and was captured along with the garrison when the city surrendered on July 4, 1863, to Union Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. A total of 22 tablets are being cast as part of this project and will mark the specific locations of various Union and Confederate artillery batteries during the siege and defense of Vicksburg.

For additional information, please contact park historian Terry Winschel at 601-619-2908 or the park office at 601-636-0583.