The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1905-05-24


Park, Writes William e. Curtis
Guns Mounted just as They Were
In 1s63-River Batteries Held by
Confederates Being Restored.
The battle-ground of Nicksburg is be-
ing made into a historical object les
son. says William L. Curtis, the Chi
cago RecordeHerald's correspondent,
writing from Vicksburg, Miss. Within
a few years, as soon as the plans OF
the commissioners are completed and
the improvements have had time to
mellow and ripen, it will be one of the
most significant, as it is now one of the
most novel, parks in the world. There
has been soldiers cemetery at Nicks-
burg ever since the war, situated where
the right OF Sherman's line stood dur
ing the siege, and bodies of Union dead
have been brought from the battle
fields all over the state and from
across the river to lie with those of
their comrades until they now number
10000, more than half Of them name
less and unknown.
Near the entrance Of the cemetery is
Il marble shaft about ten feet high and
badly clipped, which was originally
erected at the site of the final confer
ence between General Grant and Gen
>eral Pemberton, July /, 1868, at which
the terms of the surrender were ar
ranged. 1t was removed to the GENE
terry because it was being destroyed by
yandals. who Clipped off pieces of mar
BILE for souvenirs, A cannon was put
up in it's place.
The Vicksburg battle-ground covers
only POO acres. 1t has the most limit
ed area of any battle-ground in history
and was very much crowded with
troops on both sides. You will remem-
Der that it was not a battle, but
siege. As the Union troops approached,
the Confederates withdrew to ridge
overlooking a crescent shaped raYlne
with PERCEPTIONS sides which encircled
the city from river to river and vary
ing from two to three miles from the
levee. This line of intrenchments was
eight miles long and was practically
impregnable. The Union army OcCu-
pied a similar ridge on the other side
OF the ravine with a line of intrench-
ments little more than ten miles
long, with similar topography At sew
eral points the Entertainments were not
more than one-third of mile from
each other but between them was an
impossible gulf. There were very few
assaults. but continued work by the
,,-I.,.~ optil
the Confederates were starved out
All of the earthworks have been re-
stored as nearly as possible to the pre-
else condition they were in at the time
OF the surrender, and at least one gun
has been mounted in each. The posi-
ton of every regiment and battery has
been marked by a monument provided
by the state to which it belonged, with
bronze tablets bearing historical and
statistical information. Sixteen north
ern states and fourteen southern states
were represented in the siege, the elev-
en- that seeded and Maryland, Ken
lucky and Missouri in addition. Sew
eral of the northern states have been
very generous in making appropria-
1ions for monuments, as follows
Illinois w $25O,OOO Iowa ......... $50 600
Ohio .......... $1,000 Wisconsin -. 30.000
Pennsylvania. $1,000 New York 90. 12,50O
Massachusetts 5000 N. Hampshire 5000
These make a total of $523,500 with
out counting the appropriations of con
gress. Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky.
Michigan, Missouri, Rhode Island,
Minnesota and Tennessee are making
preparations, according to the repre-
scntation of each in the struggle.
Illinois had the largest number Of
soldiers engaged. a total of eighty
commands, and they will have eighty
monuments and eighty-nine markers
showing the positions occupied by the
regiments in camp, in the several as
saults and on the sharpshoOterS' lines.
Illinois will also have a central memo
rial in the form OF a Grecian temple OF
fame costing %192O0O 1t is not unlike
the tomb of General Grant at New
York having a dome of white marble
fifty-four feet in diameter alvG sixty
two feet high and the names o. all the
soldiers engaged will be inscribed on
tie walls The foundations are now
being laid on the camping ground Of
the Forty-fifth Illinois volunteer infan-
try, better known as the lead mine
regiment because il came from Ga
lena.
Iowa had thrty-two commands en-
gaged-twenty-e eight regiments Of in
fantry, two of cavalry and two batter
les of artllery-and the position of
every one will be marked by appropri-
ate monuments, while the state memo
rial, designed by Henry H Kitson Of
Boston, is now being erected and will
be finished during the coming summer
1t represents semicircle peristyle,
with civ naDaIc in brOuzp has ralipf