Research Project Update #1

Thus far, the primary obstacle in my project has been data collection. The first set of data I need is local socioeconomic records from pre-Civil War Vicksburg, Mississippi. Most local tax and property records available are from after the 1880s. After searching numerous county, city and state websites, I finally found a scan of the 1857 Warren county tax rolls. I could not find a digital file for a while, and I thought I would need to manually digitize all seventy-one pages. I did find a hidden link to an online mapping site, but all of the downloaded data files have not worked. I am currently figuring out how to fix and use the online files.

For the first half of my project, I would also like to map out the different types of buildings in pre-Civil War Vicksburg. I found a transcribed version of the 1860 city directory online, but there are no exact addresses. Street names are listed, but the buildings are listed as being “next to” or “between” other structures. All of the other links for 1860 Vicksburg city directories lead me to either pages to request scanned microfilms or web pages that no longer exist. Luckily, if I do ultimately need to map the land usage of the city, one of the maps in the Library of Congress’ archives marks the location of contemporary buildings (but not their type).

Another difficulty I have run into is the change in local topography. Georeferencing a map of the Siege of Vicksburg was difficult, because there are few definite markers between the 1863 map and the modern basemap. The Mississippi River in 1863 marked the Louisiana-Mississippi border, but the river has a completely different route today. Luckily, the roads on the 1863 map matched those on the ArcGIS basemap, even though the city of Vicksburg has expanded significantly since the Civil War. I am now in the process of tracing Union and Confederate earthworks around Vicksburg and marking troop placements. While searching for data online, I found one GIS online project on the siege that mapped 1863 troop positions, fortifications and attacks routes. ArcGIS would not let me open the project, but I am hoping I will be able to access it after looking into it a little more.

Because the pre-Civil War data is more difficult to find, I have not been as focused on searching for my modern data. I did conduct a quick search, and it appears that Warren county has CSV files available on its website for recent census data.

I will continue to troubleshoot with the 1857 tax roll data and the ArcGIS online layers. I hope that completing my project will be less difficult after I finish acquiring all of my data.