Severe erosion has forced Vicksburg National Military Park officials to remove the bust of a Confederate general from its location on Clay Street near Melborn Place across from the park.

VNMP Superintendent Bill Justice said the bust of Confederate Maj. Gen. William Henry Talbot Walker was removed by park employees and will be relocated at a later date to another site not far from the location it occupied.

The park crew’s activity raised the concern of a resident who saw the workers removing it Wednesday and called The Vicksburg Post.

“The area behind it is eroding very badly,” he said. “You can’t see it from Clay Street.”

He said runoff from rain runs into a ravine behind the statue, “And because of the soils you have here, it’s just continuing to erode and the bust was threatened.”

Raymond Hamell, supervisory park ranger with the military park, said Walker was a member of the relief force commanded by Gen. Joseph E. Johnston that attempted to reinforce Gen. John C. Pemberton during the Siege of Vicksburg in 1863.

He said Walker died during the battle of Atlanta in July 1864.