The nonprofit Friends of Vicksburg National Military Park and Campaign group is working toward raising $150,000 to replace 47 more historical markers throughout the city and Vicksburg National Military Park that were removed in 1942 as part of the World War II scrap metal drive.

Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau directors approved donating the first $10,000 toward that end last week.

“The more we can do to help them, the more we can do to build traffic through the park,” said Bill Seratt, VCVB executive director. “And as we approach the sesquicentennial (of the Civil War), I think it’s important as many of these tablets are replaced as possible.”

Friends Executive Director Harry McMillin said the group is aiming to raise $50,000 locally to match a $50,000 federal grant available through the National Park Service. An additional $20,000 has been pledged from a private, anonymous donor, he said, leaving $20,000 yet to be raised to acquire the grant.

“If we get this grant, we’ll have $100,000 toward our goal of $150,000, and that will go a long way toward getting these tablets replaced,” McMillin said.

The Friends’ latest effort is the second phase of a tablet replacement project that began two years ago. In October 2008, the Friends celebrated securing $142,000 for the park via a federal grant match — which required raising $71,000 locally, $11,000 of which came from the VCVB. That grant has since paid for the replacement of 22 tablets in the park, the preservation of 47 statues and the refurbishment of multiple monuments and memorials.

Phase two of the project aims to replace 15 tablets in the park and 32 throughout the city. McMillin said VNMP Superintendent Michael Madell is proceeding with the grant application to the NPS, and added the local matching funds will have to be raised by September.

“If you can do anything to improve the park and visitors’ experiences, then you are also improving our town,” said McMillin. “That’s the whole purpose of the Friends — to enhance Vicksburg.”

McMillin said the Friends group is soliciting additional contributions from groups such as the Civil War Preservation Trust and regional Civil War Round Table groups.

Approximately 25 tons of scrap metal was generated from the 150 tablets removed from the city and park in 1942, said McMillin. Another 150 tablets that marked Union and Confederate emplacements during the Civil War have been lost through the years through everything from fallen trees to vandalism.

The VNMP has nearly 1,400 tablets, monuments and historical markers in the park and throughout the city. It features the largest national cemetery for those who fought and died in the Civil War, and it is one of 391 parks managed by the National Park Service.

Contact Everett Bexley at ebexley@vicksburgpost.com