To the leaders of the North and South, Vicksburg, Mississippi, was the "key" to the Civil War. For the Union, control of the vital Mississippi River would never be regained unless Vicksburg was subdued. For more than a month and a half, the citizens of Vicksburg and Confederate soldiers in the surrounding fortifications endured a violent, almost constant bombardment.<BR>On July 4, 1863, when the Confederate soldiers in the fortifications around the city surrendered to Union forces led by Ulysses S. Grant, the capitulation simultaneously ended a forty-seven-day siege and forever linked the loss of Vicksburg with that at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. These were the dual blows that assured the demise of the Confederacy.<BR>Vicksburg: Sentinels of Stone reveals the breadth and scope of Grant's siege and the city's stalwart defense in eighty-five color photographs of the monuments, the bluffs, and Mississippi River, the redoubts, and the redans that remain in the modern national park.<BR>Accompanying text explores the stories of the soldiers and citizens who participated in this devastating engagement. In words and images, Vicksburg: Sentinels of Stone creates a memento and a photographic record of the monuments and scenery that make a visit to Vicksburg National Military Park an unforgettable encounter with Civil War history.