Each year the national military park at Vicksburg attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors to our community. In 1890 Congress set aside the battlefields around Chattanooga, Tennessee, as the nation’s first national military park. In 1894 the battlefield at Shiloh was also set aside by Congress and, in 1895, Gettysburg was declared a national military park. Led by Merry and Lee they formed the Vicksburg National Military Park Association and for the next several years labored to seek establishment by Congress of a national military park at Vicksburg. On November 19, 1895, the Charter of Incorporation for the Vicksburg National Military Park Association was signed by Governor John M. Stone and issued by Secretary of State George M. Govan of Mississippi.