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FOR to Sponsor the National 150th Anniversary Vicksburg Campaign Reenactment in October 2012
The Friends of Raymond will sponsor a national level re-enactment of the 1863 Vicksburg
Campaign as part of the commemoration of the sesquicentennial of the
American Civil War. The reenactment, hosted by the Blue-Gray Alliance of
reenactors, will feature several military actions of
the Vicksburg Campaign is planned for October 19-21, 2012, with up to
5,000 participants.
Over the past decade, the Friends of Raymond has preserved 136 acres of the battlefield, added interpretative trails and placed reproduction artillery pieces of the correct type on the artillery positions of the Battle of Raymond on May 12, 1963.
Three of the campaign's engagements, the Battles of Raymond and Champion Hill, and the May 22 assault at Vicksburg, will be re-enacted on portions of, or adjacent to, the actual Raymond Battlefield. The event is being staged in October, rather than May, to avoid conflict with other scheduled sesquicentennial events and to take advantage of the favorable fall weather in Mississippi.
The event will begin on Thursday, October 18,
2012, with educational field programs for schools, which will continue on Friday. On Saturday, October
20, the re-enacted battles for the general public will begin with the
Battle of Raymond at 10 a.m. on the actual battlefield. At 3 p.m. on
Saturday the program will continue with the Battle of Champion Hill,
which was the largest Civil War battle in Mississippi and was one of the
most decisive of the Civil War. The final re-enactment will commemorate
a portion of the ill-fated assault by Union forces on the works of
Vicksburg on May 22, 1863. This event will depict the attack on the
Second Texas Lunette, a crescent-shaped fortification that was located
near the modern Visitors Center in the Vicksburg National Military Park.
This fortification will actually be reconstructed on property near the
Raymond battlefield. After his unsuccessful assault of May 22, Grant
decided to take the city by siege.
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>>>Reenactor Registration CLOSED
>>>Registered Participant List
>>>Spectator Information
>>>Volunteer Information
>>>Register Your School for School Days
>>>>Purchase Spectator Tickets
A Tour in Time | Roads to Raymond: Decisions that Changed the Civil War from Jim Albritton on Vimeo.
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Annual Park Day at Raymond Battlefield Park
Almost exactly 150 years after the first shots of the Civil War were fired, another wave of volunteers is about to descend on America’s storied battlegrounds – only this array of dedicated men and women will be armed with paint brushes, trash bags, and weed whackers.
On Saturday, April 2, 2011, history buffs and preservationists from around the country will team up with the Civil War Trust to help clean and restore America’s historic battlefields, cemeteries, and shrines. The nationwide effort – dubbed Park Day – is underwritten with a grant from History™, formerly The History Channel, and has been endorsed by Take Pride in America, a division of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
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FOR Continues Artillery Mission
With the acquisition of ten additional cannon carriages, Friends
of Raymond has set its sights on attaining the unique status of
becoming the only Civil War Battlefield in
Rare Whitworth Cannon Shell Donated to FOR
Doug Waters and his father, Ed Waters, donated a rare and valuable artifact, a Confederate Whitworth cannon shell, to Friends of Raymond during an October 21, 2006, Raymond battlefield tour attended by Doug, who works for Gallagher Bassett Services, Inc. in Plano, TX. The younger Waters, who is intensely interested in Texas’ participation in the American Civil War, has often visited Raymond, where Colonel Hiram Granbury’s Seventh Texas Infantry Regiment fought on May 12, 1863. On his most recent visit Waters came bearing the prized Whitworth shell, which was manufactured in England; was shipped to the Confederate States in America; and was dug out of the ground near Warrenton, VA. The non-explosive shell was manufactured to exacting specifications and was designed to be fired by the English-made Whitworth rifled cannon.
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Battlefield Signage Installed
Walking Trail Project Completed
The first walking trail to be constructed on the Raymond battlefield—an asphalt ribbon that encircles the 23.6 acre Friends of Raymond tract located at Fourteenmile Creek west of modern Highway 18—has been completed.
Funding for the nearly $250,000 trail comes from a Tea 21 federal grant to the State of Mississippi. The one mile trail, with visitor parking lot, will serve as the lynchpin for battlefield visitation and interpretation. Upon completion of the trail, plans include battlefield interpretive signage and Civil War cannon.
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Western Theater Historians & West Coast Preservationists Support Mississippi Battlefield
In
October 2009 the 25th annual West Coast Civil War Conference convened in
Clovis, California. The event, which focused on the 1863 campaign for
Chattanooga, Tennessee, drew attendees from across the United States and
hosted some of the most recognizable historians on the subject. By
weekend’s end, the symposium had consummated a modest victory, earning
just over $7,500 for battlefield preservation. Impressed with the model
grassroots preservation achievements of the Friends of Raymond
Battlefield in Mississippi, all of the proceeds have been donated to
help further their continued efforts. The event was hosted by the San
Joaquin Valley Civil War Round Table of central California.
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Raymond National Military Park?
Permanent preservation of the Raymond, Port Gibson, and Champion Hill battlefields of the Vicksburg Campaign is being sought through legislation sponsored by Mississippi's Senators Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker. The bill was introduced on February 3, 2011, in order to preserve endangered battlefield properties, and while the timing may be viewed as inopportune due to the current round of budget cuts, it is in reality well-considered. If the Sesquicentennial Commemoration of the American Civil War is not the appropriate time to save key elements of the Vicksburg Campaign, when is?
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Madison Middle School Junior Historical Society Donates to Friends of Raymond
Thursday, May 20, 2010, members of the Junior Historical Society (JHS) of the Madison Middle School, Madison, MS, were guests at the monthly Friends of Raymond (FOR) Board Meeting where they presented FOR with a check for $497.00 plus $3.00 cash.
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Raymond
Battlefield
Doubles in Size
On June 30, 2009, the issue was settled--the bucolic fields along Highway 18 south of Raymond would remain that way, even though the fight to save them lasted 1,065 days, as opposed to the single day of combat on those hallowed grounds in May of 1863. Friends of Raymond, a local non-profit volunteer historical preservation group, working with the Civil War Preservation Trust, a national organization dedicated to saving America’s Civil War battlefields, purchased 66.62 acres of core battlefield property, thus, ending a three year process of negotiations and fund-raising. As a result, the preserved area of the Raymond battlefield has grown from 65 acres to almost 150, because the purchase of the property brings with it a preservation easement for additional acreage on the battlefield.
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Gift to Raymond from the UK
On December 28, 2009, the American Civil War Round Table UK sent Parker Hills a check from the United Kingdom for $500 for the battlefield preservation efforts of Friends of Raymond. After touring the Vicksburg Campaign with Hills in 2008, Peter Lockwood, president of Old Country Military and History Tours, went back to England and spearheaded the preservation funding effort through his Round Table. Lockwood was successful, and his note with the check advised Hills to select how the funds would be used for preservation. The money will go toward a "foundation" project to construct reinforced concrete bases for the cannon at Raymond. These bases, which will be fabricated by Paul Gore of A to B Signs in Clinton, will help to secure the cannon in their proper place "in battery," and will prevent the wheels and trails of the guns from gradually sinking into the historic Mississippi soil.
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Raymond Battlefield Trail Officially Opened
Friends of Raymond dedicated the Raymond
Battlefield Walking -- Interpretive Trail in a ceremony conducted at the
Raymond Battlefield at
10:00 a.m. on
Saturday, April 21, 2007. The trail, which includes interpretive markers and a kiosk that
explain the Battle of Raymond, the Vicksburg Campaign, and the Little J
Railroad that once traversed the battlefield, was enhanced with a new
granite marker that denotes the Raymond
Military
Park
while honoring those who helped make it possible. The ceremony was
conducted on the new tourist bus parking lot constructed by Hinds County,
and included an unveiling of the granite marker by Friends of Raymond
Generals in attendance. The unveiling was followed by a
ribbon-cutting to officially open the trail. The event was followed
by a reception and an opportunity to walk the trail, which is a ¾ mile
asphalt route that circumvents a 24-acre tract of hallowed battlefield
ground acquired from Gaddis Farms through an exemplary cooperative effort
of agricultural land conservation and historic preservation.
>>>
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Last Modified 8/25/2011