Sculpted by Gary Casteel
 
1863 Signed and Numbered Limited Edition Monument Replicas
 
The 5th Mississippi Infantry Regiment (State Troops) was organized on October 16, 1861, at Enterprise, Mississippi.  The State Troops Regiments were envisioned as a Civil War version of the Revolutionary War's Minute Men for the State of Mississippi.  Men who may not have qualified for service in regular Confederate regiments enrolled in their local company and attended drill, but subject to orders by the Confederate Army.  
 
In April of 1862, the regiment was ordered to active service and attached to Brig. Gen. Jeptha V. Harris' Mississippi State Troops, of Brig. Gen. John C. Vaughn's 2d Brigade, Maj. Gen. Martin Luther Smith's Division, in Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton's Army of Vicksburg, and commanded by Col. H.C. Robinson.  The 5th Mississippi was deployed to Vicksburg and participated in the repulse of Gen. William T. Sherman's Corps at the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou on December 27, 1862.
 
During the siege of Vicksburg, the 5th Mississippi was assigned to Brig. Gen. Baldwin's Brigade in the center of the northern salient of the Vicksburg perimeter.  On May 1, 1863, General Ulysses S. Grant and the bulk of the Army of the Tennessee attacked Grand Gulf, Mississippi, and crossed the Mississippi River south of Vicksburg.  Many units were rushed out of Vicksburg in an attempt to block two of Grant's Corps and maintain the Confederate supply line by rail over the Big Black River to Jackson.   Eventually, the entire Confederate Army, including the 5th Mississippi, fled back toward Vicksburg.  
 
“. . . Vicksburg is so strong by nature and so well fortified that sufficient force cannot be brought to bear against it to carry it by storm against the present Garrison. It must be taken by a regular siege or by starving out the Garrison. I have all the force necessary for this if my rear was not threatened.”  --General Ulysses S. Grant
 
Following months of starvation and depredation, the entire Army of Vicksburg was surrendered on July, 4, 1863, and the 5th Mississippi regiment was paroled. 
 
The located on the north side of Confederate Avenue approximately 0.2 miles east of Fort Hill.