Grand Gulf Military Park covers the old river town and Confederate fortifications where Ulysses S. Grant first tried to force a landing during the Vicksburg Campaign. The site now combines earthworks, a museum, cemetery, restored buildings, trails, and an observation tower over a bend of the Mississippi country.
It is more sprawling than polished, which suits the place. The geography is the lesson: river bluffs, approaches, batteries, and the kind of terrain that made the campaign so difficult.