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Winter Quarters
Winter Quarters, the country home of Haller and Julia Nutt, is the only plantation home along Lake Saint Joseph that survived the Vicksburg campaign. The Nutts were Union sympathizers who offered hospitality to Union soldiers at Winter Quarters. In return they received "letters of protection" from Ulysses S. Grant, which spared their home from the devastation levied by advancing Union troops under the orders of General William T. Sherman. Union army stragglers later destroyed many of the out-buildings, leaving only the main structure standing.
Milliken's Bend
Following the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863, the United States Colored Troops were formed and hundreds of thousands of blacks served. Poorly trained
and poorly armed, the African Brigade was guarding the
Union supply depot at Milliken's Bend when it came under
Confederate attack. Reports of this skirmish indicate that
the black soldiers engaged the Confederates in hand-to-hand combat with bayonet and clubbed muskets, successfully defending the outpost. Their service to the Union in
guarding supply bases allowed many white troops to carry
on with the siege of Vicksburg.
Vicksburg National Military Park
The Louisiana Monument stands on Confederate Avenue
in Vicksburg National Military Park. The monument
consists of an 81-foot high Doric column topped by a
brazier of granite with an eternal flame, and stands
on the highest point in the park. A list of organizations
involved in the Campaign and Siege of Vicksburg
appears on its base with "Louisiana" displayed on
the front. Construction begun on July 10, 1919, and
the memorial was dedicated on October 18, 1920.
Louisiana Governor John M. Parker later transferred
ownership of the memorial to the Federal government.
Grant's Canal
In June 1862, Union troops under Brigadier General
Thomas Williams began to dig a canal across the base of
De Soto Point, opposite Vicksburg, in hopes of bypassing
the city's Confederate batteries. Sickness and disease,
unrelenting heat, and an uncooperative river that seemed to
drop more rapidly than the soldiers could dig continually
plagued the efforts. In just a few short weeks, the weary
soldiers withdrew. However, in January 1863, work on the
canal was resumed by troops under the command of Major
General Ulysses S. Grant whose troops were ultimately
foiled by heavy rains and flood waters that broke through the
levee and inundated the area. With the death toll rising
daily, Grant eventually abandoned the canal and embarked
on new strategies to capture Vicksburg and gain control of
the Mississippi River.
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Life Under Occupation
"Making Do"In an excerpt from Brokenburn, Kate
Stone wrote, "We have been on a strict war footing for some time — cornbread, and home-raised meal, milk and butter, tea once a day, and coffee never. A year ago we would have considered it impossible to get on for a day without the things that we have been doing without for months...Clothes have become a secondary consideration...just to be decently clad is all we expect. In proportion that we have been waited-on people, we are ready to do away with all the forms and work and wait on ourselves."
Crop Destruction
Governor Thomas Overton Moore called upon the citizens
of Louisiana to destroy cotton crops, also known as "white
gold," where Union occupation was a
danger. In order to keep this valuable commodity out of
the hands of the Union army the crops were set ablaze in
sacrificial bonfires. Burning cotton crops was considered
an act of loyalty to the Confederacy and since plantation
management during the war was often left to the women,
it was their opportunity to actively participate in the
Confederate cause.
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