Vicksburg monuments

[John Christiansen]

I had the opportunity to revisit Vicksburg just before Christmas, and it did not disappoint. I found the 33rd's monument easily enough.

I could swear that Wede had told me that there was an actual line marker for one of the companies at another location, but no one at the park knew of one, and it wasn't listed in the reference binder for the park's monuments. (I could have been looking in the wrong place.) Where is this mystery marker?

I planted a small flag at the main monument, though. I'll try posting scans of the pics I took once they're developed.

[Robert Braun]

Perhaps the "line markers" to which you refer are in truth the metal markers for the three trench lines, or "parallels" dug as Gen. Lauman's command approached the Hall's Ferry Road throught the month of June, 1863.

Indeed there are several small metal markers that indicate (or at least did ten years ago) the location of the Second and Third Parallels. To my best recollection, none of these markers indicated a specific company; the lowest identifyer was a "brigade" level. The Thirty-third participated in the First Brigade of Fourth Division.

Indeed, the First Brigade was instrumental in the construction of the Third Parallel. As half of the Thirty-third regiment was ordered to be in the rifle pits at any given time during the final week to ten days of the siege, it seems likely that these men did a significant amount of work, as they dug the final approach toward the Confederate's "Salient Work" behind an enormous sap roller.

I stood in the trench that consituted the final approach, and even after 130 years, the trench was deep enough to protect me. The final apprach was to be the assault avenue for a general attack planned for July 6, which of course did not occur.

Land upon which the Thirty-third Wisconsin sweated and bled is now city property, reportedly resulting from an NPS land sale during the gasoline crisis of the 1970s. Modern construction continues to encroach upon the remaining earthworks in this sector. Indeed, the Thirty-third monument once set at a cul de sac of a park road called "Wisconsin Avenue."

Clearly, the veterans of the regiment, and the veteran's of Lauman's "Fighting Fourth Division" knew well the mettle of the Thirty-third during the siege... and convinced early park officials that a "Wisconsin Avenue" was a fitting tribute to the regiment.

Unfortunately, some of the statistics engraved on the monument are incorrect. Still... better to have the monument than none at all!

I am quite sure the veterans of the regiment smiled on your flag tribute at the monument. On behalf of their descendants (of which I am not one) please accept my greatful thanks for your thoughtfulness!

Warm regards, Bob.

[John Christiansen]

Bob,

Thanks for another informative reply to a question of mine. You are always a great source of information!

The cul-de-sac you describe should now be more properly labeled "somebody's driveway." Our monument is squeezed between a private home and I-20. Modern developments have sprung up all along Wisconsin Avenue and Confederate Avenue. The contrast between the state of historic grounds within and outside the park is heartbreaking. Monuments, markers, and earthworks are slowly being hidden from view; what's worse, there are few safe places to park in these areas for those of us interested in visiting what's left. And, like much of the south, Vicksburg isn't a pedestrian friendly environment for battlefield trampers.

The works within the park still remain impressive, as you describe. What's more, the park is performing historic landscape restoration by removing vegetation between the lines, at least in the tour stop areas where the main assaults were. Its truly impressive to be able to see the approach lines snaking towards the rebel works. Even more awe-inspiring is being able to see the nightmarishly steep ravines and gullies that composed the terrain the men charged across. I tried quick stepping from the Federal lines to the Stockade Redan and was thoroughly winded upon reaching the walls of the fort. And despite it all, Federal troops planted flags on the parapets of these works in each of their assaults, although they failed to capture them. It's a stunning achievement.

[Robert Braun]

As a point of clarification, the original park road known as "Wisconsin Avenue" terminated in a cul-de-sac that featured just the Thirty-third's monument. That avenue is now gone, as you accurately point out, and resides at the top or a rather steep private driveway. The regiment's red Montello granite monument was erected in the vicinity of "Battery No. 6."

Many of the earthworks in the vicinity of Lauman's Approach remain-- well, at least they did in 1996 when I was there with a true Thirty-third afficiando, the late Terry Frazier-- the Salient Work (filled in after the battle by order of Gne. grant, as were most CSA works) the Georgian Fort (a litter strewn playground and local dump) and several trenchlines and approaches-- including the final approach entrenchment that extended from the Third Parallel toward the Salient Work (mentioned in my last post.) All of these feature reside outside the park boundaries and are in danger of continued encroachment and outright destruction.

From the vicinity of the monument, did you happen to glance across the expressway to the opposite ridgeline? In 1996, Terry Frazier indicated that this ridgeline and the vicinity of the Ponderosa Retaurant was the campsite of the Thirty-third regiment for the latter half of the seige. The Thirty-third's fatalities like Corporal James H. Ellsworth, and Privates Absalom Barger, Fred Taylor, and others were buried here by their comrades.

Side-bar: Lieut. George Hale of Company H recovered the body of Corp. Ellsworth-- who died of disease at division hospital-- and oversaw the buial of Ellsworth next to the grave of fellow Company H man Fred Taylor. Years later, the bodies of Federal soliders were recovered and reinterred in the VNMP National Cemetery. Corp. Ellsworth and Fred Taylor were re-buried in the National Cemetery next to each other, just as they had been during the siege. That this arrangement would endure into perpetuity most probably occured though the foresight and influence of the Thirty-third Regiment's representative Wisconsin Vicksburg Monument Commission---


--- George Hale.



The "Wisconsin Dedication of Monuments" program took place on May 22, 1911. George Hale was unquestionably present at the ceremonies in his capacity as the Thirty-thrid regiment's representative, despite chronic illness. Hale attended the July reunion of the association of thye Thirty-third's Kenosha companies -- H and I-- and was again elected association president. Unfortunately, he did not survive his term. George Hale passed away on Oct. 24, 1911.

His death was front page news in Kenosha.

Regards,

Bob Braun.