VICKSBURG, Miss. (WTVA) -- Senators Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker are asking Congress to pass legislation to expand the Vicksburg National Military Park.
Both men reintroduced a measure to have the National Park Service purchase 10,000 acres of land in Claiborne and Hinds County.
The Champion Hill, Port Gibson, and Raymond Battlefield Addiction Act says the purchases must be acquired through voluntary sales, donations or exchanges.
Both Cochran and Wicker say it is the appropriate time for Congress to consider the bill on the 150th anniversary of the Siege of Vicksburg this year.
The bill targets three parcels of land where fighting took place as Federal troops approached Vicksburg.
The property also includes several historic homes that would fall under National Park Service operations if added to Vicksburg National Military Park.
The legislation was written with the assistance of the NPS, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, the Civil War Preservation Trust and local officials.
