Vicksburg, Mississippi
Vicksburg is a city in Warren County, Mississippi, 234 miles (377 km) north by west of New Orleans on the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers. In 1900, 14,834 people lived in Vicksburg; in 1910, 20,814; in 1920, 17,931; and in 1940, 24,460. The population was 26,407 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Warren County.
History
Incorporated in 1825, Vicksburg was created from the community of Walnut Hills and named after Newitt Vick, a Protestant minister and conscientious objector to the War of 1776.
During the Civil War, Vicksburg was the site of the Battle of Vicksburg, an important battle in which the Union defeated the Confederacy and gained control of the entire Mississippi River. The battle, also known as the Siege of Vicksburg, consisted of a long siege brought about by the fact that the city is located on a high bluff overlooking the Mississippi River and thus was largely impregnable to invaders. The capture of Vicksburg and the simultaneous defeat of Lee at Gettysburg marked the turning point in the American Civil War. Because the city fell on July 4, 1863, the people of the city did not celebrate Independence Day for the next eighty-one years, until 1944.
Because of the city's location on the Mississippi River, its reputation in the nineteenth century often rested on the river's prodigious steamboat traffic. Between 1881 and 1894, the Anchor Line, a prominent steamboat company operating on the Mississippi River from 1859 to 1898, operated a steamboat called the City of Vicksburg, named for the city. In 1876 a Mississippi River flood cut off the large meander flowing past Vicksburg leaving access to the new channel limited. The United States Army Corps of Engineers diverted the Yazoo River in 1903 into the old, shallowing channel to rejuvenate the waterfront. Railroad access to the west was by transfer steamers and ferry barges until a combination railroad and highway bridge was built in 1929. This is the only Mississippi River rail crossing between Baton Rouge and Memphis and the only highway crossing between Natchez and Greenville. Interstate 20 bridged the River in 1969 and freight rail traffic still crosses by the old bridge. North-South transportation links are by the Mississippi River and U.S. Highway 61.
On 12 March 1894, the popular soft drink Coca-Cola was bottled for the first time in Vicksburg by Joseph Biedenharn, a local druggist. Today, surviving nineteenth-century Biedenharn soda bottles are prized by collectors of Coca-Cola memorabilia.
Willie Dixon was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi on July 1, 1915. Muddy Waters was born a few miles north in Rolling Fork, Mississippi in 1915.
Vicksburg served as the primary refugee gathering point and temporary housing during the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 which submerged an area of the Mississippi Delta nearly the size of New England. That Flood was the impetus towards establishment of the United States Army Corps of Engineers "Waterways Experiment Station" as the primary hydraulics laboratory to develop protection from the River. That establishment, now known as the "Engineering Research and Development Center," works in the areas of military engineering, information technology, environmental engineering, hydraulic engineering, and geotechnical engineering.
Geography
Vicksburg is located at 32°20′10″N 90°52′31″W / 32.33611°N 90.87528°WInvalid arguments have been passed to the {{#coordinates:}} function (32.335986, -90.875356)Template:GR.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 91.3 km² (35.3 mi²). 85.2 km² (32.9 mi²) of it is land and 6.2 km² (2.4 mi²) of it (6.78%) is water. It is located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers.
Demographics
As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 26,407 people, 10,364 households, and 6,612 families residing in the city. The population density was 310.1/km² (803.1/mi²). There were 11,654 housing units at an average density of 136.9/km² (354.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 37.80% White, 60.43% African American, 0.15% Native American, 0.61% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.41% from other races, and 0.59% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.04% of the population.
There were 10,364 households out of which 32.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 34.9% were married couples living together, 24.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.2% were non-families. 32.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.15.
In the city the population was spread out with 28.4% under the age of 18, 9.3% from 18 to 24, 27.9% from 25 to 44, 19.6% from 45 to 64, and 14.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 82.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 77.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $28,466, and the median income for a family was $34,380. Males had a median income of $29,420 versus $20,728 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,174. About 19.3% of families and 23.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 34.8% of those under age 18 and 16.5% of those age 65 or over.
The city is also home to three large Corps of Engineers installations, The Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), the Mississippi Valley Division headquarters, and the Vicksburg District headquarters.
Trivia
One of the most unusual weather occurrences in Mississippi history occurred on May 11, 1894 at Bovina, Mississippi, just outside of Vicksburg. On that day, a gopher turtle totally encased in ice fell with the hail.
The novel Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is set in a small town about a day's ride from Vicksburg.
Vicksburg is home to the longest running melodrama,"Gold in the Hills".
Confederate Army General John C. Pemberton surrendered Vicksburg to Ulysses S. Grant on July 2nd, 1863, after a long and trying siege. However, the Union army refused to recognize the surrender until July 4, 1863. The event was insult enough that the city of Vicksburg did not celebrate the Fourth of July again until shortly after World War II.
Notable residents
- William Wirt Adams, Confederate Army officer and member of the Mississippi House of Representatives, resided here.[1]
- Milt Hinton, jazz bassist
References
Sources
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
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References
- Cox, James L. The Mississippi Almanac. (2001). ISBN 0-9643545-2-7
External links
