At the ballot box and in the halls of Jackson’s capitol building, Vicksburg voiced her opposition to secession and to the Civil War. But when the threat of Union attack was evident, Vicksburg ungrudgingly gave her support, in both materials and manpower, to the Confederacy. More than 2,500 men marched away to fight for the South; hundreds of them would never return. What many Vicksburg residents thought would be a matter of days soon evolved into a campaign lasting for months. The forty-seven-day siege of the city, followed by years of enemy occupation, proved to be more abhorrent than anything witnessed on the battlefield.

This heavily illustrated volume of work takes an in-depth look at the people in whose hearts the Southern flag still waved long after the hope of victory was extinguished. In addition to the story of the siege of Vicksburg, the book describes the military actions that took place in that region in 1861 and 1862, as well as the military occupation that began after the surrender, both of which have been overlooked and practically ignored by historians until now. Vicksburg and the War examines this "most Southern of cities" whose inhabitants were more involved in the War Between the States than those of any other city, and whose legacy of heroism has not been forgotten.

Gordon A. Cotton resides in his birthplace at Yokena, Mississippi, south of Vicksburg. He earned a B.A. and M.A. in history from Mississippi College. He taught for eight years in schools in the Vicksburg areas and was later a reporter/photographer for the Vicksburg Evening Post. Since 1976, he has been director/curator of the Old Court House Museum in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

Jeff T. Giambrone is a native of Bolton, Mississippi. He is a graduate of Hinds Community College in Raymond and earned his B.A. in history from Mississippi State University in Starkville and his M.A. in history from Mississippi College in Clinton. He has worked at the Old Court House Museum in Vicksburg since 1995 and has written numerous magazine articles on various Civil War topics.

VICKSBURG AND THE WAR
By Gordon A. Cotton and Jeff T. Giambrone
160 pp. 11 x 8½
122 photos 72 illus Biblio.
ISBN: 1-58980-171-7
EAN: 978-1-58980-171-4