The Vicksburg National Battlefield
There are obvious conflicts and issues surrounding celebratory memorials to Civil War issues in MS. The winner, the North, created most of the memorials celebrating the sacrifice of northern soldiers on and IN what was functionally a defeated and occupied foreign country (and still sometimes feels that way).
The Siege of Vickburg was a 2-3 month crucial strategic battle that secured the lower Mississippi River in Northern control, effectively splitting Louisiana and Texas from the rest of the South and preventing re-supply of men and materials from those two states. The winning general was president-to-be U.S Grant.
The seige-line around Vickburg consisted of ground troops on the east half and military river craft on the MS River frontage on the west. The seige-line has become a National Battlefield Memorial administered by the US national Park system, a 16 mile road following the semicircle of Northern trenches, the USS Cairo exhibit, and the US National Cemetery. It's present incarnation is an extension of memorials began BY THE NORTH immediately after the end of the Civil War.
We made a mistake by not going to the visitor center and getting the over-view history and explanation of the campaign and the significance of various sites BEFORE driving the road, so we were putting it all together secondarily. It seems as though every platoon of every regiment of every northern state has donated a memorial. The state of Illinois, having contributed the most troops and suffering the greatest Northern loss, has the largest presence. Memorials to the southern troops are few and far between. However, by far the best and most interesting exhibit is the USS Cairo Memorial, an ironclad riverboat gunship which was sunk by southern forces using a submerged mine, then called a "torpedo". It was the first warship of any type ever sunk by a remote-controlled mine/torpedo in recorded history. It was also one of the few minor victories of encircled southern forces other than resistance and repelling attacks by Northern troops for several weeks. The USS Cairo wreck lay in Mississippi mud for 100 years until the remnant hulk was raised and restored in 1968. The display of the ship and all the artifacts found in it is first rate and fascinating.
But the siege was suffocating and surrender was inevitable. The Memorial and drive is intricately intertwined into and somewhat swallowed by the size of current Vicksburg. History, and a negative one at that, is never more than a few blocks away for many in Mississippi.
This is a small sampling of thousands of plaques, signs, monuments, and statues.