Vicksburg is a collectible.

So read the headline in Wednesday’s Vicksburg Post after the unveiling of the latest in the America The Beautiful quarter series. The quarter depicts the USS Cairo, a Union gunboat sunk in the Yazoo River in December 1862.

The residents of Vicksburg should hold their heads high with pride on their sleeves for all to see because for this city — for any city — this is a big deal.

Only 56 sites‚ one in each of the 50 states, five territories and the District of Columbia, will be featured on the quarters. The series will feature national parks and other sites of national historical significance. The choice of Vicksburg is a feather in the cap of this community.

More than 2,000 students and 400 others participated in the Tuesday ceremony that brought the “collectible” headline. Uncirculated rolls of coins were sold as well, giving residents a chance to forever hold Vicksburg as a collectible.

The tails side image depicts the Cairo on the Yazoo River as it would have been seen when it served the Union Navy during the Civil War. Inscriptions are VICKSBURG, MISSISSIPPI, 2011 and E PLURIBUS UNUM — Latin for “out of many, one.”

Once circulated, the 64 million quarters will travel the world.

Hopefully, many who find themselves with a Vicksburg quarter will delve a bit deeper into the story of the gunboat. That exploration might lead to further probes into events surrounding the sinking and Vicksburg’s key role in the American Civil War.

It also provides our own residents the chance to further enhance their knowledge of this city’s role in the war. The story of the Cairo is fascinating. To try to retell the story here would be impossible. But the story of the Cairo is readily available at the Vicksburg National Military Park — as are the remains of the boat that lay on the floor of the Yazoo River for nearly 100 years before being raised in the 1960s.

Mississippi has other historical sites that could have been chosen. But the U.S. Mint selected only one.

Vicksburg, grab a roll or two. This is special.