[03/15/01] The involvement of U.S. Colored Troops in the Vicksburg Campaign will soon be acknowledged by a monument to be designed and built with a $275,000 grant to the City of Vicksburg.

The completed monument will be in the Vicksburg National Military Park, created by Congress in 1899 to commemorate the Civil War struggle here.

The Vicksburg Campaign took place in the fall and winter of 1862 and ended on July 4, 1963, when, after a 47-day standoff, Confederate forces surrendered to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant.

Records show no black soldiers involved in fighting here, except for the Confederacy, but black federal troops were believed to be in the campaign in preliminaries near Milliken’s Bend in Louisiana. Newly freed slaves were also hired as workers by the Union Army. Hundreds, if not thousands, died laboring in the summer’s heat and from rampant disease.

The $275,000 grant comes from a $2.8 million fund appropriated by the Mississippi Legislature for the preservation and creation of African-American heritage sites in the state.

The project site already has been approved by the director of the National Park Service, and Vicksburg Mayor Robert Walker is designated as project director.

“It’s hard to put into words,” Walker, a history professor before entering politics, said about being able to build the monument. “Finally, there will be a more accurate view of the part African-Americans played in the war.”

A national debate has raged in recent years over the failure of Civil War sites to document the role of slave or free blacks during the war. The effort is not new for Walker. Now seeking a fourth elective term, he has pursued the project since first becoming mayor in 1988.

“It was an attempt by the mayor, and the park service supports it, to recognize the sacrifice and effort of these troops during the war,” said Bill Nichols, superintendent of the Vicksburg National Military Park.

Nichols also said that aside from a monument in Washington, D.C., commemorating all African-Americans who fought in the Civil War, there are no other acknowledgements of black soldiers in a national military park, and none commemorating the U.S. Colored Troops specifically.

“The bottom line is, we’re finally beginning a movement to have a balanced account of the Civil War and the Vicksburg Siege,” Walker said.

The monument’s dedication is scheduled for Feb.14, 2003, which is the birthday of Frederick Douglass. Douglass helped organize the U.S. Colored Troops into the Army and advised President Abraham Lincoln on the Emancipation Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in the states rebelling against the Union and allowed them to join Union forces.

“It’s going to be a great day historically,” Walker said. He said the monument will make the park more attractive to tourists by displaying other aspects of the war, and descendants of black soldiers who fought in the war finally will be able to see their ancestors honored.

“The monument will be a significant beginning in providing long overdue recognition to these troops, and it will enhance knowledge and appreciation of their roles in this great war,” Walker said.