Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Vicksburg

VICKSBURG, a city and county-seat of Warren co., Miss.; on the Mississippi river, about 1 mile S. of the mouth of the Yazoo, and on the Yazoo and Mississippi, the Alabama and Vicksburg, and the Vicksburg, Shreveport, and Pacific railroads; 45 miles W. of Jackson. The site is elevated and uneven, but in the midst of beautiful scenery. Here are St. Francis Xavier's Academy, St. Aloysius' Commercial College, Charity Hospital, waterworks, electric lights, a National cemetery (in the suburbs) where 17,000 Union dead are buried, court house, a United States government building. National and State banks, and a number of daily and weekly newspapers. Vicksburg is a port of entry, and has an extensive trade in cotton, of which it ships about 90,000 bales annually. It has railroad car shops, foundries, cotton-seed oil and lumber mills, and many smaller industries. During the Civil War Vicksburg was strongly fortified by the Confederates, who several times repulsed land and naval attacks, but were forced to surrender to General Grant, July 4, 1863, after a long siege. In 1876 the river cut through a neck of land, making the city an island. Since then the National Government has been restoring the harbor at a cost of about $1,250,000. Pop. (1910) 20,814; (1920) 18,072.