Vicksburg sits at the southern most tip of the Mississippi Delta, and served as a production and commerce hub for the cotton industry. Cotton was grown most profitably in the Mississippi Delta region. Vicksburg experienced rapid growth during the expansion of the cotton trade in the American South.
It was named after Newitt Vick, a Methodist minister. When the Americans took possession in 1798, they changed the name to Walnut Hills.Ī sprawling community developed which was incorporated in 1825 as the City of Vicksburg. In 1790 the Spanish founded a military outpost on the site, which they called Fort Nogales (nogales meaning 'walnut trees'). The first Europeans who settled the area were French colonists, who built Fort-Saint-Pierre in 1719 on the high bluffs overlooking the Yazoo River at present-day Redwood. The area which is now Vicksburg used to be part of the Natchez Native Americans' territory. Vicksburg is a cultural landmark in the American South, and is home to the Southern Cultural Heritage Center, Vicksburg Military Park, and the Lower Mississippi River Museum. Vicksburg is a city of 22,000 people (2018) in Warren County, Mississippi.
