PORT GIBSON – History has been corrected in this city on the route of Union Gen. U.S. Grant in his 1863 Campaign for Vicksburg.

Two new historic markers were unveiled Tuesday as part of National Historic Preservation Month. One affirms the Battle of Port Gibson, noting its importance in the Civil War campaign, and another provides a brief history of the City of Port Gibson.

The historic marker on Market Street across from the old Trace Theater in downtown Port Gibson affirms a more serious struggle took place after Grant’s troops crossed the Mississippi River at Bruinsburg.

In May 2003, 200 years after the city was named county seat for Claiborne County, 135 re-enactors from across the country came to the city for the first preservation march in Mississippi. It was then that historians realized that the original Battle of Port Gibson marker had incorrect information.

“It said it was a two-hour battle – I know it was a lot more,” said Jim Woodrick of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, who was also involved in the re-enactment. “On May 1, 1863, thousands of young men struggled valiantly on the hills west of here.”

Libby Hollingsworth, a direct descendent of A.K. Shaifer, the one-time owner of the historic Shaifer House, and his son, A.K. Shaifer Jr., a Civil War veteran, said she and her husband were aware of the marker’s flaw before the march.

“There’s nothing worse than inaccurate history,” she said. “It was very important (to change it).”

Her husband, Al Hollingsworth, former manager of Port Gibson’s Main Street program and a preservation activist for the city, was crucial in getting a new marker made.

“We started working with Jim – he saw it was important,” Libby Hollingsworth said. “After the preservation march occurred, they said the money raised could go toward education, and that’s the first thing we thought.”

The march raised nearly $7,000, and the city’s preservation committee hoped to have the marker installed in 2003, along with another marker to celebrate Port Gibson’s 200th birthday as the county seat.

“In 2003, the whole state of Ohio – where the monuments were made – was celebrating their 200th, so we knew it wouldn’t work,” Al Hollingsworth said. “It’s been here nine or 10 months, but we wanted to do it at a time when it was appropriate.”

After Port Gibson, Grant’s forces moved toward Raymond, then Jackson before turning west again for the Battle of Champion Hill and a series of assaults on Vicksburg. The assaults failed and a siege began, ending with the city’s surrender.

Officials decided unveiling both markers for National Preservation Month was the most appropriate time. The Port Gibson historic marker was placed at the corner of Church and Fair streets, across from the historic First Presbyterian Church.

“Preservation is important to this community. The reason it’s important to do it in May is that it’s Historic Preservation Month – it shows the city has belief in preservation,” Mayor Amelda Arnold said. “It’s important to celebrate the roles of history and the tangible aspects of our heritage. We all believe in historical preservation.”

Libby Hollingsworth said she hopes the markers will continuously educate the people of Port Gibson as well as those passing through.

“It’s always education. Everything you do is an educational project,” she said. “The reason we put (the Port Gibson historic marker) at this corner is because people can stop … we’re making the community aware of how much history is here. It is an economic tool – people do come here.”

The two dedications were tied in with the preservation committee’s first preservation awards ceremony, which was at Port Gibson’s First Presbyterian Church. Four awards were given for replication and restoration efforts throughout the community. They were: