Monument
The monument for the 3rd Ohio Battery is on Union Ave at tour stop one, where it can readily be seen from the parking pull out. The monument is gray granite, 8 feet tall, with the front having the words OHIO at the top, with a US Flag on a pole and artillery sponge crossed below. The Great Seal of the State of Ohio is center in the vee of the sponge and flag. Below is a Wagon wheel resting on a base of six cannon balls and a cannon. This was the standard design of the monuments for the 11 Ohio Batteries that fought at Vicksburg.
Design
At the front base of the monument is the following:
THIRD BATTERY,
CAPT. WILLIAM S. WILLIAMS.
3D DIV., 17TH CORPS.
Back Inscription
On the base at the back of the monument is the following inscription:
THIS BATTERY WAS PRESENT AND SERVED WITH
ITS DIVISION IN THE ENGAGEMENTS AT RAYMOND,
MAY 12, 1863. IN THE BATTLE OF CHAMPION'S
HILL, MAY 16. IN THE ASSAULT. MAY 19. IN
THE ASSAULT MAY 22, AND DURING THE
SIEGE WITH NO REPORTED CASUALTIES.
IT FIRED 3,521 ROUNDS OF AMMUNITION
DURING THE SIEGE.
On April 16, 1900, The General Assembly of the State of Ohio, passed the following act: authorizing the appointment of a commission to ascertain and mark the positions of Ohio troops in the siege of
Vicksburg. This resulted in commissioners making an estimate
of the sum of money required for the monuments as follows: Monuments for twenty-six regiments of infantry engaged, cost not to
exceed $1,500 each, $39,000 total cost; monuments for eleven
batteries engaged, cost not to exceed $1,000 each, $11,000 total cost; one monument for one battalion of cavalry engaged, cost
not to exceed $1,000.
On August 12, 1902 the Commission awarded the contract to The Hughes Granite and Marble Company, of Clyde, Ohio for furnishing the monuments. The cost of the monuments were as follows; 26 for Regiments of Infantry engaged in the battle at $1,460 each; 11 for Batteries of Artillery engaged, at $960 each; and one for the Battalion of Cavalry engaged at a cost of $480.
The granite was from the quarries owned and operated
by the Whetmore, Morris Granite Company, of Barre, Vermont,
and was their best grade of granite. This was the same granite as was used for the Ohio monuments at Shiloh National Military Park, and the same quarry from which the granite was taken to build the Rockefeller obelisk in Cleveland.
Monday May 22, 1905, was selected as the day to dedicate
the Ohio monuments in Vicksburg National Military Park. Special rates were negotiated, $0.01 per mile, for Ohioians traveling to the dedication. To quote the report: "The special train left Columbus for Vicksburg at 2.30 p.m., Friday, May 9, with three Pullman sleepers, one day coach, one baggage car, and Governor Herrick's private car, having on board 150 passengers. On arrival at Cincinnati two more sleepers were attached to the train, with 90 passengers on board."
On Sunday, the day before the dedication, the reports notes that one could see the old gray haired veterans "pointing to the very spot where this or that comrade fell, pierced by a ball fired from the enemy's line of battle; or where John, Jo, or Bill was mortally wounded, and describing the scene when the stretcher bearers came up and carried away his comrades; how tenderly they picked him up and slowly carried him back to the amputating table in the field hospital."
On Monday May 22, 1905 the veterans and dignitaries gathered for the formal dedication of the monuments. The dedicatory exercises were held at the junction of Grant and Union Avenues in the park. Governor Herrick concluded his remarks at the dedication with this words: "Now to you, Capt, Rigby, as the representative of the War Department, I transfer these memorials and markers which Ohio has with such loving care placed here in token of her sons, knowing that the National government, which so highly appreciates the services of its citizen soldiery, will forever scrupulously guard and keep them." And a vist to the Vicksburg National Military Park will show that is what has been done.
Source This is a wonderful resource for anyone interested in knowing what went into the creation of the monuments on the battlefield. Pages 302 through 370 lists the formation of the Monuments Commission, all the reports of its work, as well as the dedication ceremony and the attendant speeches. I had two ancestors who served in the 3rd Ohio Battery, one of whom lost his life later in the war. For anyone who had an ancestor in the fighting, this is way to see what went into making the Ohio memorials that we see today in the park.