Vicksburg National Military Park, established by Congress on February 21, 1899, preserves the campaign, siege, and defense of Vicksburg during the Civil War across 1,800 acres containing more than 1,300 monuments. Its most impressive memorial is the Illinois Monument, dedicated on October 26, 1906 and modeled after the Roman Pantheon, with 60 bronze tablets bearing the names of 36,325 Illinois soldiers who took part in the Vicksburg campaign. The memorial was designed by William L. B. Jenney, who served as Gen. Sherman's chief engineer during the Vicksburg operations, and it cost $194,423.92. Nearby, the Shirley House, built in the 1830s as Wexford Lodge by attorney Nicholas Gray, is the park's only building to survive the siege. The park grew from the efforts of Civil War veterans in the Blue and Gray Association, who formed the Vicksburg National Military Park Association in 1895 and helped mark the grounds, contributing to its recognition as one of the world's most accurately marked battlefields.
