Monument symbolizes the important role of African-American soldiers during Civil War

The African-American monument, erected in the Vicksburg National Military Park, symbolizes the importance of African-American soldiers during the Civil War.

The monument was sculpted by Dr. Kim Sessums of Brookhaven, MS, and was designed to represent the “sacrifice in blood made by Black soldiers on the field of battle during the Civil War,” according to an article done by the National Park Service.

On the monument, two African-American soldiers and a field hand, carved from bronze, can be seen with the field hand and one soldier carrying the second, wounded soldier between them. The men featured in the statue are of the Union and sit on top of a cube of African granite with a plaque commemorating the lives lost during the war.

The inscription on the plaque reads, “Commemorating the service of the 1st and 3rd Mississippi Infantry Regiments, African descent and all Mississippians of African descent who participated in the Vicksburg Campaign.”

The monument commemorating the African-American soldiers of the Civil War was erected in the Vicksburg National Military Park. (Photo credit: National Park Service)

Over 178,000 Union army servicemen were of African descent along with 18,000 Union navy members. The Confederate army relied on slave labor to complete many supportive roles including construction and fortification duties.

Servicemen who aided either side of the Civil War are commemorated whether they participated as the result of free will or enslavement. African soldiers of the Union made their mark during two main battles which include the battle of Port Hudson in May of 1863 and the battle of Milliken’s Bend a month later. The soldiers and the field hand displayed in the monument represent the will of the Union to abolish slavery once and for all. As the field hand looks back to a past riddled with enslavement and sacrifice, the soldiers march onward to fight for the freedoms that were inherently theirs from the start. The wounded man represents the many sacrifices made by Black civilians.

Of several hundred memorials that commemorate the Confederacy, only around two dozen of them feature African soldiers or participants of the war. The 300,000 dollar project received 25,000 dollars of its funding from Vicksburg, MS, in which the majority of its citizens are Black – around 60% of the population. According to the National Park Service, of over 1,300 monuments erected in the Military Park, this was the first one built to honor African troops and participants of the Civil War.

It broke ground on Sep. 20 of 2003 and was dedicated on February 14 of 2004. The location of the monument has raised some controversy. Sgt. Major Norman Fisher of Jackson, who headed the First Mississippi USCT, believed the monument should have been placed beside the gravesite of the 7,000 Black troops who were buried there. Instead, it is located on Grant’s Ave. Fisher had several other concerns regarding the lack of proper representation of African troops in the Military Park, but few of them were ever addressed. Because of this, African-Americans became reluctant to pursue more representation of the contribution of Black soldiers in the Park, with much of the actual history being unavailable and certain displays remaining outdated.

Nearly all African-American soldiers who were part of the Vicksburg Campaign were also once slaves of Mississippi and Louisiana. Following the Emancipation Proclamation which allowed them to enlist, it was unknown whether they would be willing to actually fight in the War. Their sacrifices and determination undoubtedly impacted the tides of battle in a major way. This monument only represents a small portion of the efforts and losses of African-American soldiers during the Civil War, but it is one key glimpse that we have into the war’s sordid history of Black troops who fought alongside white troops.