As the nation commemorates the sesquicentennial of the Civil War, The Vicksburg Post will publish a weekly column by a former longtime historian for the Vicksburg National Military Park.

Beginning a week from today and continuing through July, Terrence J. Winschel will give week-by-week historical accounts of the Vicksburg campaign 150 years ago.

The columns will cover operations across three states — Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas — that culminated with the fall of Vicksburg on July 4, 1863.

The campaign “was the most complex land and naval operation in American military history up to that time,” Winschel said.

The operations centered on Vicksburg lasted 18 months and involved almost 200,000 soldiers and the inland water fleets of the Union and Confederate navies. More than 20,000 casualties, from the North and the South, were recorded in the campaign. 

Winschel, who retired in the summer after 35 years with the National Park Service, expects Vicksburg, and especially the national military park, to host thousands of visitors who travel to the area during the sesquicentennial.

Established by Congress in 1899, the park also is home to the Vicksburg National Cemetery.

The columns will focus on leading figures who commanded Union and Confederate forces, common soldiers and human-interest stories that Winschel said make Vicksburg “one of the most fascinating chapters in American history.”

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Next week: The value of the Mississippi River