CHAMPION HILL — As his foe was calmly calculating his next move, Confederate Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton was nervous and shaking.

One private noted that Pemberton had so much trouble getting on his horse during the battle that his staff officers had to help him into the saddle, Vicksburg National Military Park ranger Jake Koch said during a program commemorating the 152nd anniversary of the battle Saturday.

Torn between orders from his military commander, Joseph E. Johnston, and his president, Jefferson Davis, the situation would have been enough to rile even the most experienced military leaders, but Champion Hill was Pemberton’s first time leading a major battle.

“This is his first time in charge and in command of a large army. His actions show he was overwhelmed,” Koch said.

Pemberton’s inexperience was also evident in the fact that he never ordered Confederate troops to scout the area. Early on the morning of May 16, 1863, Brig Gen. Stephen D. Lee took the initiative and ordered his own scouts who spotted federal soldiers near the Coker plantation on what is now Mississippi 467 east of Edwards.

What followed was the largest, bloodiest and most significant action of the Vicksburg Campaign.

About 32,000 advancing Union soldiers met 23,000 Confederates in a fierce struggle for a crossroads roughly halfway between Vicksburg and Jackson. The field was dominated by a bald hill on land owned by the Champion family, from which Confederate artillery opened fire on the Union army at 9:45 a.m.

Near what is known as the Hill of Death because it was the site of the heaviest casualties, about 100 people gathered at a second private ceremony hosted by the Champion family. Sid Champion V, whose great-grandfather owned the land where the battle was fought, said turnout was better than expected following a threat of rain in the forecast.

“I am grateful to the people who came because they show an interest in what happened not as dry facts but with interest in and reflection in the life we live today,” he said. “To learn more about that is to learn more about the country’s history.”

The event at the Coker House was the first on the Champion Hill site since Congress gave the park authority to purchase land at that battlefield and others involved in the Vicksburg Campaign.

The Champion family privately holds much of the Champion Hill battlefield, and Sid Champion V said he had no plans to sell.

“After my funeral, I see most of this land going into federal hands,” Champion said. “I’m about the only one in the family who has any interest in keeping it.”

Commemoration continues at 10 a.m. Sunday with a program presented by ranger Ray Hamel on the Battle of the Big Black River Bridge.