Vicksburg Confederacy Educational Travel

Mississippi

On the Home Front in Vicksburg, Key to the Confederacy

National Parks

Small Group

Military History

Wishlist Start

Gain a deeper understanding of the Civil War alongside experts as you visit battlefields, learn about military strategy, and explore antebellum homes.

Rating (5)

Activity Level

Program No. 1607RJ

Length

6 days

Starts at

1,079

6 days

5 nights

14 meals

5B 4L 5D

Vicksburg, Miss.

At a Glance

Learn the story of civilians living on the home front while generals plotted strategy and soldiers fought the battles of America’s most uncivil war. During field trips and lectures by experts, gain a keen appreciation for daily life amid the turmoil, as you ponder these people’s lives and hear their voices in antebellum mansions and key sites in the Vicksburg area and Jackson.

Activity Level

On Your Feet

Walking up to one-quarter mile, one hour with stops, over paved and unpaved terrain.

Small Group

Love to learn and explore in a small-group setting? These adventures offer small, personal experiences with groups of 10 to 24 participants.

Best of all, you'll ...

In Jackson, learn how “Chimneyville” was burned four times by Federal troops in the 1860s, and visit the old capitol and The Oaks, two of only a few buildings to survive the fires.
Discuss the Vicksburg military campaign in antebellum Cedar Grove, built in 1840 and home to original furnishings and remnants of the siege, including a Union cannon ball embedded in the wall.
Explore the Vicksburg National Military Park, one of the largest such parks in the nation, highlighted by a field trip to the U.S.S. Cairo, once a sunken gunboat that is now a special feature of the park.

General Notes

Due to the nature of this program, listening devices are not available.

Featured Expert

All Experts

Parker Hills

Brig. General Parker Hills has conducted scores of Military Staff Rides since 1987. His audiences have included general officers, commanders at all levels, non-commissioned officers, and soldiers. As commandant of the R.C.T.A., he led the academy to a position of national renown. He trained more than 17,000 law enforcement officers prior to his retirement from active duty, and served as the editor of a military magazine for four years. Hills holds a bachelor’s in commercial art, a master’s in educational psychology, is a graduate of the U.S. Army War College, and is the author of "A Study in Warfighting: Nathan Bedford Forrest," "The Battle of Brice’s Crossroads," and "Art of Commemoration: Vicksburg National Military Park." He has also conducted civilian explorations of battlefields for non-profit organizations, and is a regular speaker for Road Scholar and other groups.

Please note: This expert may not be available for every date of this program.

Parker Hills

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Suggested Reading List

View 11 books

Beleaguered City: the Vicksburg Campaign, December 1862-July 1863

by Shelby Foote

347 pages of very good reading about Civil War Vicksburg by a master story-teller

Brokenburn: The Journal of Kate Stone 1861-1868

by John Anderson, ed.

400 pages of a well-written diary of a Southern lady living on a Mississippi River plantation in Louisiana

Receding Tide: Vicksburg and Gettysburg, the Campaigns that Changed the Civil War

by Edwin C. Bearss; J. Parker Hills

400 pages, to be released by National Geographic Society in May 2010, describing in detail the politics and military actions of the pivotal first six months of 1863

Vicksburg: A People at War, 1860-1865

by Peter F. Walker

235 pages with good primary accounts telling the story of the people of Vicksburg as they coped with war

Civil War America: Voices from the Home Front

by James Marten

346 pages, a very readable work with extensive quotes from primary accounts

The Final Fortress

by Samuel Carter

About 300 pages, a very readable work with plenty of primary sources and research

Joseph E. Davis, Pioneer Patriarch

by Janet S. Hermann

196 pages on the elder brother and advisor to Jefferson Davis, whose bad luck placed his plantations in the path of the Federal Navy and later the Federal Army

Sarah Morgan: The Civil War Diary of a Southern Woman

by Charles East, ed.

600 page diary of a Southern lady living in downtown Baton Rouge, LA

Vicksburg 1863

by Winston Groom

482 pages describing the Vicksburg Campaign by another great story-teller and the author of Forrest Gump

Enclave: Vicksburg and Her Plantations, 1863-1870

by James T. Currie

250 pages on Vicksburg after the surrender, when it became an enclave of Union territory in the heart of the Confederacy

My Cave Life in Vicksburg

by Mary Loughborough

196 page diary kept by the wife of a Confederate officer while she was living in a cave with her daughter during the siege

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6 days

5 nights

14 meals

5 B 4 L 5 D

DAY

Check-in, Registration, Orienation, Welcome Dinner

Vicksburg, Miss.

Hampton Inn & Suites Vicksburg

Afternoon: 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Independent check in at hotel. Meet group coordinators. 5:30-6:30 p.m. Social gathering with wine in hotel meeting room.

Dinner: 6:30 p.m. Dinner in the hotel.

Evening: 7:30 p.m. Welcome, introductions and overview in hotel meeting room.

DAY

Battery Benton on Miss. River, Grand Gulf, Windsor Ruins

Vicksburg, Miss.

B,L,D

Hampton Inn & Suites Vicksburg

Activity note: walking required

Breakfast: Breakfast at the hotel.

Morning: By coach to Battery Benton on Miss. River; travel to Grand Gulf area and explore Grand Gulf Museum

Lunch: Picnic lunch while on field trip

Afternoon: Travel to Windsor ruins; plight of the Daniell family; Bethel Church visit; Wintergreen Cemetery visit; First Presbyterian Church, Port Gibson, Miss.

Dinner: 6:30 PM. Dinner at nearby restaurant.

Evening: Informal discussion of the day's activities in hotel lounge

DAY

Governor's Mansion, new Miss. Museum and Civil Rights Museum

Vicksburg, Miss.

B,L,D

Hampton Inn & Suites Vicksburg

Activity note: walking required

Breakfast: Breakfast at the hotel.

Morning: Travel by motor coach to Mississippi's state capitol, Jackson. Field trip to Old Capitol Museum and bookstore and to the Governor's Mansion, the second-oldest continuously occupied official residence of a governor in the United States, built in 1842.

Lunch: Informal lunch at downtown site in Jackson, Miss.

Afternoon: Field trip to two adjoining, new museums, the Mississippi Museum and the Civil Rights Museum. Excursion to Eudora Welty House, home of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author.

Dinner: Tour of Cedar Grove mansion in Vicksburg, an historic site that still contains remnants of a cannon ball fired during the Civil War. After the tour, dinner in the mansion.

Evening: Informal recapture of the day's activities

DAY

Art of the War, Vicksburg and Gettysburg campaigns

Vicksburg, Miss.

B,L,D

Hampton Inn & Suites Vicksburg

Activity note: walking required

Breakfast: Breakfast at the hotel.

Morning: Lecture about the art commemorating the Vicksburg Campaign during the Civil War by noted author on the subject

Lunch: Lunch at the hotel

Afternoon: Lecture about the Vicksburg campaign

Dinner: Dinner at the hotel.

Evening: Lecture "Receding Tide: Vicksburg and Gettysburg"

DAY

Vicksburg National Military Park and its decorative arts

Vicksburg, Miss.

B,L,D

Hampton Inn & Suites Vicksburg

Activity note: walking required

Breakfast: Breakfast at the hotel.

Morning: Motor coach to Vicksburg National Military Park. Film in the visitors' center. Expert commentary as bus goes through part of the huge park.

Lunch: Lunch at downtown Vicksburg restaurant.

Afternoon: Field trip to Vicksburg National Military Park, which is filled with captivating art work, such as the Missouri Monument (bronzework), Tilghman Monument, honoring Confederate heroes Brig. Gens. Lloyd Tilghman and Daniel Adams; the unique Texas Monument; the magnificent bronze Iowa Monument; the Military Park museum and bookshop; and the enormous Illinois Memorial, filled with oconography. Anecdotes include the story of Albert D. J. Cashire or Jennie Hodges, a female soldier in the Illinois Infantry, and 12-year-old Fred Grant, who accompanied his father. Ulysses S. Grant, throughout the Vicksburg campaign. Visit Fort Hill in the park.

Dinner: Dinner at a restaurant near the river

Evening: informal review of the day

DAY

Final program concludes at 10:30 a.m.

Vicksburg, Miss.

Breakfast: Breakfast at the hotel.

Morning: An informal give-and-take presentation, "Are You Smarter Than a Minie Ball?" Discussion and questions. Program concludes at 10:30 a.m. Check out of hotel by 11:00 a.m.

Meals

14 Meals

5 Breakfasts

4 Lunches

5 Dinners

The following choices may be available when requested in advance: Gluten Free, Low Salt, Low Fat, Vegetarian

Lodging

Lodgings may differ by date. Select a date to see the lodgings specific to that date.

Display

Apr 07, 2019 - Apr 12, 2019

Apr 07, 2019 - Apr 12, 2019
Sep 08, 2019 - Sep 13, 2019

Hampton Inn & Suites Vicksburg

5 nights

Vicksburg

The hotel sits directly across from and adjacent to the Vicksburg National Military Park. It is new and has won numerous awards for comfort, service, and beauty.

TripAdvisor Reviews

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3 Reviews

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5 Average

Arthur

Class of 2009

Goshen, IN

(5) a year ago

My wife Beverly has now completed 49 R.S. programs and I have accompanied her on her last 18. We are both 87 years old and hope to be able to do more programs.

Beverly

Class of 2001

Goshen, IN

(5) a year ago

For all of the Civil War Buffs out there......this is one program that you do not want to miss! Great leadership, beautiful sites to see, and a memorable part of U.S. history.

Jack

Class of 2004

Douglasville, GA

(5) a year ago

Widen your understanding of the significance of the Vicksburg campaign. While all the event experts in my 33+ Road Scholar adventures have been very good; General Hills on #1607 was the very best.

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