This tunnel marks the remnants of Thayer's approach. The Union troopers, many of them miners from the northeastern states used this tunnel to dig closer to the Confederate lines in the previous photos.
They protected themselves with facines, huge bundles of branches and sticks that were rolled in front of the work as the trench and tunnels were extended closer and closer to the Confederate positions.
Clicking on the Map link to view a map of the battlefield. Thayers approach is near the top of the map as stop 6 on the bus tour. This map is provided by the National Park Service.
The monument on the left is the State Monument from Massachusetts.
In an interesting side bar, my great, great, grand uncle fought here at Vicksburg. On July 4, 1863 he was one of the many that surrendered to the Union forces under Grant. My uncle was with the Cherokee Artillery from the state of Georgia.
It was early enough in the war that he was paroled instead of being sent to a prisoner of war camp. As the war progressed and it became obvious that paroled prisoneers were not going to honor their promise not to return to the war captured prisoners would be sent off to POW camps. My ancestor would not be so lucky the next time he was captured.
