“Every battlefield has monuments, and everybody has an arch, too. Even the French have an arch. Only Vicksburg has the Cairo.”

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Those words from Vicksburg National Military Park Ranger Tim Kavanaugh sum up perfectly the selection of the USS Cairo to represent Mississippi on an upcoming quarter.

The Cairo, one of seven ironclad gunships named after cities along the Mississippi River, was used by Union forces against Vicksburg defenses in the War Between the States. The city, then known as the Gibraltar of the Confederacy, was instrumental to the North and South.

On a chilly morning 158 years ago today, the Cairo led a small flotilla up the Yazoo River north of Vicksburg to destroy Confederate batteries and clear underwater mines. Seven miles north of the city, the boat suffered massive damage and sank.

More than a century after Vicksburg fell, the boat was raised, towed to Pascagoula, taken apart and cleaned, then reassembled. By 1978, the boat had become a fixture at Vicksburg’s military park.

While the monuments and the arch are aesthetically pleasing, the one piece of history most reflective of Vicksburg’s role in the siege is the Cairo. It is the only such boat in America where visitors can “walk aboard” and get to see exactly what it was like so many years ago.

State quarters are popular with Americans, and the fact Vicksburg — and the Cairo — were chosen to appear on one in the U.S. Mint’s “America the Beautiful” series is a credit to the city, the park and its history.