The Civil War split our nation, Americans fighting Americans, brother against brother. The war lasted four long years, a key battle fought westward was the turning point in the war: the Battle of Vicksburg. Between Cairo, Illinois, and the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi River twists and winds for nearly 1,000 miles. Commonly referred to as ‘the trunk of the American tree’. The river was vital to both the American Government and to the Confederate forces in the west. The city of Vicksburg, Mississippi, 250 feet high, overlooks the Mississippi River on the Louisiana-Mississippi state border.