History Comes Alive!!!

Photos by Katie Carter & David Jackson ~ The Vicksburg Post

Clockwise from top, Bryce Richards, 12, fires an Enfield rifle during a demonstration; Crawford Street is one of the paths of the walking tour; the Texas monument is near where a group from Texas will be camped this weekend; and Pemberton's Headquarters.

The Vicksburg National Military Park is the happening place this weekend.  It is chopped full of tours, demonstrations, cannon firing and book-signing. 

If you can go...

Cannon firings:  The park's Living History volunteers fire cannon each Friday through Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., with an additional firing on Saturday at 9:30.  On the same days, musketry demonstrations are from 9: a.m. until 4 p.m. 

Artillery demonstrations:  Valverde Battery, 12th Texas Artillery;  9:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Saturday and 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Sunday at Fort Garrott, Stop 14, on the South Loop; rifle demonstrations are from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m both days.

Walking tours:  Rangers will give 30-minute tours of the historic district; beginning each Friday and Saturday and Sunday at Pemberton's Headquarters.  Admission included in park admission.

Book-signing:  Edwin C. Bearss and J. Parker Hills, "Receding Tide: Vicksburg and Gettysburg, the Campaigns That Changed the Civil War"; 4:30 until 6 p.m. Saturday at the USS Cairo.

Park admission:  $8 per vehicle and valid for a week: $20 for annual pass.