1018 Crawford Street
Vicksburg, MS
Confederate General John Pemberton set up his headquarters in downtown Vicksburg at the Wills-Cowan house near the corner of Crawford and Adams Streets. It is in this house that the decision to surrender Vicksburg to the Union was made.
The house was built in 1835 by William Bobb. By the time the war rolled around it was owned by John Willis. In 1890 the house was purchased by Mary Cowan and has since been known as the Willis-Cowan House. Cowen sold the property to the Sisters of Mercy convent in 1919, and it was used as part of its school. In 1973 the building was again sold, this time to a private owner. It was only in 2003 that the National Park Service acquired the house.
Unfortunately, the Pemberton Headquarters house is not open to the public due to the need for renovation. Work began in 2017 and is scheduled to take ten years due to budget limitations.
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Last updated on January 19, 2022