Wild pigs are rooting up the soil at Vicksburg. Park officials are taking an Army of the Tennessee approach to the problem.
What Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s forces did not accomplish at Vicksburg, Mississippi in July 1863, “successors” to that hallowed ground are now trying to accomplish, slowly but surely. And they have four legs.
A significant number of wild hogs that were driven further inland by the flooding of the Mississippi River are attacking the battlefield and cemetery, making it look for all the world like an erratic plowing contest has been held there. The animals are taking over the 1,800-acre park and the future of monuments, earthworks, and trenches as well as grave markers is in peril. The porkers may be a more devastating enemy than Grant’s men ever were.