so it limited it to vicksburg proper.all of the rest of the things that happened for a year and a half before the city fell were not within the scope of the park. especially since this was across the river. but if in the past 15 to 20 years there has definitely been increased interest in the battle there has been more written about it. i attributed a lot of to the movie laurie. if you are familiar with that that tells the story of the 54th massachusetts air assault at fort wegner. again that was a month after milliken's bend and that's it twice in south carolina. and it's interesting to see the impact that movie had even within the historical profession because you can really see after 1989 when the movie came out there is much more that comes out about black troops during the civil war. one last thing about vicksburg the park. of course they're interpretation and they no longer subscribe to the dumbing school of thought. they are much more conscientious just because our culture is in general but also because the scope of

you know, you had this big seas going on at vicksburg. this was just, you know, a small skirmish in the broader scheme of the civil war. so they kind of disappeared almost immediately. it disappeared literally, you know, early in the 1900's and get washed away. so the site itself is no longer there. i do spend quite a bit of time in my book talking about vicksburg national military park and there will and remembering or forgetting the battle. for a very long time the history that was presented at the park their was based on what was called the downing school. he was a professor. in the early 20th century had a very paternalistic view of slavery. slavery was not that bad. you know, the slaves were well provided for, that kind of thing answer that was kind of -- because that was considered the current scholarship at the time the was the kind of history that was presented. in addition to that the enabling -- is specified that the interpretation would concentrate on the commemoration of this siege of vicksburg. so it limited it to the expert