We visited 4/20/2021. The National Park Service has done a fantastic job of organizing and exhibiting the battlefield. The signage is extremely helpful for viewing the respective lines. Since the Visitor’s Center was closed we called and reserved a Licensed Battlefield Guide. The smartest thing we did! We only had a half-day to visit and wanted a solid understanding of the battlefield without me driving everyone crazy by reading several hundred signs. We were fortunate to have Robert Terry (601 636-3827, 601 218-4048). His knowledge of the situation, the battlefield and the key players was exceptional. He was able to personalize the information based on our time and interests (we had 3 veterans in our car). Great to be able to get immediate answers to our questions. Can’t recommend enough the value of using the Licensed Battlefield Guide option. Best spent money of the entire trip.

I spent a day exploring Vicksburg National Military Park and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I had the pleasure of touring the battlefield over the course of three hours with Vicksburg Licensed Battlefield Guide Robert Terry. He provided a wealth of insight into the different aspects of the Vicksburg campaign, the terrain of the surrounding area, as well as information related to the many memorials and monuments found out on the field. Hiring the guide came with a cost in addition to the park entry fee, but well was worth it my opinion for gaining a better understanding of the campaign as well as the military park. In addition to the battlefield, there is also the National Cemetery and the Civil War era ironclad boat Cairo which are also very much worth exploring. The visitor center shows a short film (around 30 minutes I believe) on the campaign and includes a small gift shop.

Got brochure from visitor center in Natchez. Entered Tour Road 10 mins before closing. Audio was easy: dial phone number in brochure, enter number of the stop, hear details. Amazing 16-mile drive. Darkness closed in, but seeing about half was awe-inspiring and worth it on our tight schedule. Many locals were walking or jogging through the park, enjoying the fresh air, where 110,000 men fought for 47 days. Even though it’s been 150+ years, it seemed surreal.

No one is going to like my review, but I'm being honest. First of all, a whole lot of this was closed. We have traveled to seven states on this trip, and I don't see why the visitor center here had to be closed. You can limit the number of people inside, and a staffer can stand at the door to count. If you don't have a visitor center, you don't get the narration, the maps, the chance to buy a shirt, etc. Second, parts of the trail were closed, like Grant's headquarters, for example, and the National Military Cemetery! I understand there are pandemic precautions, but what? We're going to give COVID 19 to the dead people? Come on! Third, the grass BADLY needed cutting. Ugh. Fourth, the dang USS Cairo Museum was closed. That, too, could have been handled by limiting attendance or requiring masks. It's not that hard. SO disappointed in this place!

I spent the morning visiting Vicksburg National Military Park. As a student of Civil War military history, this was high on my list to visit. It was well worth the time. The battlefield tour drive is about 16 miles and took a couple of hours to complete taking some stops along the way. The scenery is gorgeous and signs are everywhere denoting where the various Union and Confederate positions were stationed. In some areas the redoubts and trenches were still preserved. Memorials in honor of the men who fought were located all over the battlefield. I found the Illinois memorial particularly impressive with it’s huge enclosed shrine. Plaques tell the story and significance of the battle. The remnants of the USS Cairo Ironclad gunboat are on display and can be toured. The museum was closed, but the main attraction was the boat anyway which is outside. Near the USS Cairo is the national cemetery which contains the graves of thousands of Union soldiers. It is a stark reminder of the extreme cost of our freedom and devastating effects of war. This is a great place to visit to learn some history and gain a better understanding of what it took to forge the United States.

I’ve been to numerous Civil War sites, and, as at many, the reality of what took place at Vicksburg is truly gut-wrenching. But I’m glad we have national memorials such as this to remind us of the horror and human tragedy that nearly tore our nation apart. The terrain was nothing that I envisioned, and, I was surprised at how far from the city of Vicksburg much of the fighting took place. The overgrowth of trees and brush make it difficult to envision what much of the battleground looked like. But the existence of the many remaining redoubts and trenches is impressive. As with Gettysburg, there are numerous (hundreds?) of statues and memorials honoring the combatants. You could spend days viewing them all (we didn’t). The many types of artillery add realism and context. If you don’t acquire a tour CD, definitely call the phone number listed in the park literature (that you receive upon entry) and listen to the brief description given at each of the 15 designated stations throughout the parkway. We completed the entire visit in just under 4 hours (including numerous stops and 30 minutes at the Cairo display). Wish the displays in the visitor center contained more artifacts, but many can be viewed at the city hall museum in Vicksburg.

Wish we could have spent more time in this park that is very well done and full of reverence for this epic battle of the Civil War. (Historians say Vicksburg and Gettysburg vie for importance) It is so tastefully done and very informative. Even if you can only take time for the drive through, it is worth it. We will be back as it really peaked our civil war interests.

We visited the Vicksburg National Military Park in November 2020. We went on a Sunday and it was not crowed. On the day we went there was no entry fee but the information center was closed. We called and asked about a guided tour and it was $60 for a 2 hour tour. We drove the route slowly and getting out at various spots and ended up driving a total of 13 miles in about 3 hours. The road winds throughout the various battlefields. It is a hidden gem in my opinion and a must see from singles to families. You can drive or walk and there are some smaller routes for walking. We met several people on bicycles. It is well taken care of and again a must see event if in Vicksburg.

We deviated off our trek north on the Natchez Trace Parkway and went to Vicksburg for a moving experience and helped us begin to understand the Civil War. Being from Minnesota, the losses to our fellow Minnesotans 150 years ago and the monument dedicated them and the other states involved is very inspirational. We watched the series of movies in the Visitors Center which provide a basis of understanding for how the troops arrived there and the sacrifices of both the Union and Confederate armies. I have to be honest, our knowledge of the Civil War was general and we wished we had done our homework and spent more time here. I just want to say that there was an extremely knowledgeable National Park Service employee in the Visitors Center that we were overhearing explain a very complex explanation of an aspect of the war. If you are a Civil War buff, this is a serious research place. The drive around the perimeter of the cemetery is almost unnerving when you see the statues and think about the loss of life in a country so badly torn apart. We were unable to see USS Cairo when we were there as that road was closed. There were many people walking and biking here (local people who walk here daily). We hope to return here on a separate trip after seeing Gettysburg, Shiloh and Richmond. We proceeded up the Natchez Trace and spent three days looking at the battle of Franklin, TN after the fall of Nashville. Before embarking on this venue or other venues of the Civil War we would recommend a careful selection of the places you wish to see as we stumbled upon many places of historic significance related to the Civil War. We would come here and perhaps spend a considerable amount of time walking the grounds; it’s a very large space, be prepared. If you don’t have much time, watch the films and drive the perimeter road like we did.

We enjoyed and quick trip through the park. We downloaded the battlefield app from Apple and it was very informative. I hated that he didn’t get to go in the visitors center or the Cairo Museum but we rolled with it under the current COVID-19 conditions. I do think the staff could’ve limited the number of people in at a given time and allowed these places to remain open. Anyway, we still enjoyed our ride and we got out and walked some of the trenches. He was interested in the back stories and of how the people lived during the siege.