The Civil War: hogs uproot Vicksburg Battlefield

VIENNA, Va., January 18, 2012 — What Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s forces did not accomplish at Vicksburg, Mississippi in July 1863, "successors" to that hallowed ground are now trying to accomplish, slowly but surely. And they have four legs.

A significant number of wild hogs that were driven further inland by the flooding of the Mississippi River are attacking the battlefield and cemetery, making it look for all the world like an erratic plowing contest has been held there. The animals are taking over the 1,800-acre park and the future of monuments, earthworks, and trenches as well as grave markers is in peril.  The porkers may be a more devastating enemy than Grant’s men ever were.

The area had been an important one in the war. Grant had barely beaten back the Confederate incursion into Kentucky and his attention turned again to the Mississippi River. If he could control the river, he could isolate the western theater from the eastern Confederate States, but to do this, he must first capture the city of Vicksburg. Confederate Gen. John C. Pemberton had been ordered by Gen. Robert E. Lee to defend Vicksburg at all costs....