THE STIGMA OF THE FOURTH OF JULY

You may recall that Nathaniel Pope, a delegate from the territory of Illinois, lobbied Congress in 1818 to expand the footprint of Illinois to include a portion of the coast of Lake Michigan on the theory that a port at that location (ultimately known as Chicago) and the resulting trade and commerce with people from other areas in the north would encourage an influx of progressive ideas which would lessen the likelihood that Illinois would become a slave state.

Decades later, Pope's theory about the political implications of the free exchange of ideas from a multitude of visitors seemed to be supported by events in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Unlike most other areas of that state which were rural and devoted to agriculture, Vicksburg was a bustling port on the Mississippi River with a wide variety of visitors with a wide variety of political and philosophical leanings. As a result, when the Civil War was about to erupt, the cosmopolitan inhabitants of the city selected electors to vote against secession from the Union. Of course, this turned out to be a minority view, and Mississippi left the Union on January 9, 1861--the second state to do so, after South Carolina.

Vicksburg was at a strategic location for controlling use of the Mississippi River, and it was subject to bad things happening to it for several months in 1862 and 1863 between heavy bombardment from the Union Navy and the responses from the Confederate forces.  Finally, Confederate General John C. Pemberton surrendered the city on July 4, 1863 to General Ulysses S. Grant. Despite the earlier pro-Union sentiments of its inhabitants, the damage done during the capture of the city and the subsequent harsh occupation by the Northern troops for a decade later caused most of Vicksburg's residents to come to despise their Yankee oppressors.

As a result, the "Fourth of July" was definitely not a holiday any more for the inhabitants of the city for over eighty years. It was not observed in any positive way in Vicksburg until 1945 when the Nazis were defeated in Europe. Even then, however, it was celebrated as the "Carnival of the Confederacy"--not the Independence Day observed by the rest of the country. Finally, however, during the Bicentennial celebrations of 1976 and 113 years after July 4 had become anathema to the people of Vicksburg, they decided to let bygones be bygones, and the holiday is once again "Independence Day" in that municipality.

For additional information on why on July 4 in Vicksburg you can now gorge yourself on hot dogs, listen to marching bands playing patriotic music, and display American flags, please click here.