Vicksburg is one of just two sites selected by the National Park Service to host signature events in 2013 as the nation remembers the War Between the States, and the Vicksburg National Military Park has preparations well underway.

“Our nation is now in its second year of a five-year commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War,” park superintendent Michael Madell announced Friday. “To lead this commemoration, the National Park Service has adopted a theme of From Civil War to Civil Rights, and we intend to embrace that theme this next year as we recognize the anniversary of the campaign for and siege of Vicksburg.”

About three dozen people braved temperatures approaching 90 degrees, with heat indexes in the mid-90s, for the morning conference at the steps of the Illinois Memorial.

In addition to the announcement of sesquicentennial plans, the first copies of a new book about the art and architecture of the park were released.

“The Art of Commemoration,” by Clinton resident, Civil War historian and retired Brig. Gen. Parker Hills, is a 100-page guidebook to some of the significant state memorials and monuments to battle units and military leaders that fought at Vicksburg.

The book includes photographs, descriptions and backgrounds of the subjects, dedication facts, architectural details and even GPS coordinates of the monuments and markers.

“It’s not often an old soldier gets to use his art degree,” Hills quipped as he signed copies of the book at a reception in the Shirley House, the only remaining Civil War-era structure remaining in the park.

The book will be distributed for free at the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau’s visitor information center on Clay Street or through its website at visitvicksburg.com.

It commemorates the park’s monuments and provides not just details about the art works but what the artists might have been trying to say through them, Hills notes in the introduction.

“The thing signified at Vicksburg — the spirit of the park — is the valor of the soldiers and sailors who struggled as participants in the Vicksburg campaign,” he writes.

In his remarks, Madell pointed out that the battle for control of Vicksburg and the Mississippi River was not confined to one day or a few days, or to a limited geographic area. The VNMP’s observance of the campaign will thus extend “beyond the park’s boundaries,” he said.

“The park will reach out to venues throughout this historic community and export interpretive and resource management programming to sites all along the Vicksburg Campaign — Port Gibson, Raymond, Champion Hill, Jackson and others,” Madell said.

Other offerings include a Vicksburg Heritage Fair with craft shows, period music and dance; a Youth Leadership Academy, with research-based projects and intense studies of the VNMP; and key commemorative events over Memorial Day weekend, Madell said.

Local tourism officials and directors of the Friends of the VNMP were on hand.

“We have worked very closely with the park and will continue to do so, to help promote the events,” said Bill Seratt, the VCVB’s executive director. “Advertising, social networks, all the different platforms we use will be involved. The 150th commemoration events will be the focus of our advertising efforts for the next 18 months.”

Also, the city’s spring Tapestry program will focus on the events surrounding the 1863 Campaign and Siege of Vicksburg, Seratt added. Tapestry is an annual tourism event that highlights the city’s historic heritage with tours of homes and significant sites.

The Friends of the Vicksburg National Military Park is also supporting the commemoration efforts, and a membership drive is underway. Bess Averett, executive director, said Friends has seen 71 new members join and has raised more than $10,000 in its recent drive.