VICKSBURG, Miss. - On April 23, Vicksburg National Military Park will be conducting a major cleaning of headstones at Vicksburg National Cemetery. Volunteers are needed to help honor the final resting place of over 18,000 veterans. Working alongside National Park Service preservation staff and park rangers, volunteers will utilize a special cleaning solution to return each historic veteran headstone to its brilliant white color in time for Memorial Day. This is the park’s signature event to celebrate the National Park Service’s National Park Week.
Date: Saturday, April 23, 2022
Time: 8:00am - 12:00pm.
Check-in begins at 7:30am.
Lunch will be provided.
To volunteer, please register via the following forms according to age at time of event. If registering as a family or group, each person attending will need to fill out their own form:
18 and Older - https://forms.office.com/g/n7TDLadHKS
Under 18 - https://forms.office.com/g/gvhtyvwW7z
Registration deadline: April 13, 2022
The largest Union cemetery in the nation, Vicksburg National Cemetery sits on 116 acres. It was established in 1866 to serve as the final resting place for United States soldiers. After its inception, the War Department led an effort throughout the South to locate the graves of Union soldiers who died during the Civil War so that they could be reinterred in the national cemetery. Today the cemetery includes more than 18,000 interments, including more than 17,000 Civil War dead of which nearly 13,000 are of unknown soldiers. These burials include the final resting place of more than 5,500 United States Colored Troops that served with distinction in the Civil War. Rounded, upright headstones mark the graves of the known soldiers, while small, square blocks, etched with a grave number only, designate the burials of the unknowns.
This event is supported in partnership with the Friends of Vicksburg National Military Park and Campaign, D2, the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, Cemetery Preservation Supply, and the American Battlefield Trust’s Park Day 2022. With special sponsorship in honor of John L. Nau, III in recognition of his many efforts for historic preservation at Vicksburg National Military Park.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
