CIVIL WAR BATTLE DRAWS 400 RE-ENACTORS TODAY NEAR MAKANDA

MAKANDA, Ill. - The armies of the North and South will continue to do battle today near Makanda, Ill., during the 9th annual Makanda Junction Civil War Days and Arts and Crafts Fair.

More than 400 Civil War re-enactors wearing Union blue or Confederate butternut gray are expected to participate in the two-day event as members of re-activated Civil War infantry companies, artillery batteries, and horse-mounted cavalry units. It began Saturday.

This year, the re-enactors will recreate the first in a series of important battles of a campaign that finally led to the siege and fall of Vicksburg, Miss. in 1863.

The most of the events, including the main battle, will be held on the Hartline farm at the intersection of new Highway 51 and the Makanda Road blacktop, between Carbondale and Anna.

This year's main event will recreate the Battle of Port Gibson, Miss., which was a prelude to the siege and fall of Vicksburg.

In order to take Vicksburg - and reopen the Mississippi River from Cairo, Ill. to New Orleans - Union Major General Ulysses S. Grant had to first get his troops across the Mississippi River from the swamps of northeastern Louisiana. Grant's objective was to capture the high ground at Port Gibson, which was important, as roads lead from it to Grand Gulf, Vicksburg and Jackson, Miss.

It was at the intersection of two roads near Port Gibson that 5,000 Confederates, including the Missouri (Confederate) Brigade and 6th Mississippi Regiment faced an opposing army of 20,000 Federal troops.

Initial contact between the two forces was made on the evening of April 30, 1863, but the battle didn't really begin until the morning of May 1. Since it occurred on a prominence known as Thompson's Hill, many of the troops referred to the battle by that name.

By the end of day, the Union Army under Grant had won the battle, and the Confederate troops were forced to withdraw back through Port Gibson and across Bayou Pierre. Later than night, they retreated toward Vicksburg, burning two bridges behind.

So ended the first in a series of battles in the Vicksburg campaign, all of them Union victories, at Raymond, Jackson, Champion Hill Big Black River and Vicksburg itself. Eventually the Confederates would surrender Vicksburg to Grant, along with a 30,000 man army on July 4, 1863.

The battle re-enactment will begin at 2 p.m. today on the Hartline farm along Highway 51.

Today's events begins with a Civil War-era church service at 9 a.m., followed by drill and demonstrations at 10:30 a.m. Following the lunch break, preparations will begin for the Battle of Port Gibson. Following the battle all of the troops will review past the spectators at about 3 p.m.

The food booths and arts and crafts stands will open at 10 a.m.

The event is sponsored by the Village of Makanda and the Makanda Volunteer Fire Department. Admission is $3 per car. Parking will be located in the orchard, near Highway 51.