Hog Wild

“You ever see a rototilled field?”

Mike Madell, Vicksburg National Military Park Superintendent

Photo by Craig O’Neal

Ground made hallow during the Civil War has turned into stomping grounds for wild hogs today. The site of the Civil War’s final major battle near Vicksburg, Mississippi (population 24,894), which claimed the lives of more than 10,000 Union troops and 9,000 Confederates, is under siege again. Feral hogs pushed inland by the flooding of the Mississippi River last May have overrun the historic battlefield. The boars weigh 150 to 200 pounds, sport tusks six to nine inches long, and have voracious appetites. They’re omnivores and dig furrows to find roots, moles, plants, ground-nesting birds, and acorns. Mike Madell, superintendent of the Vicksburg National Military Park, compares the area to a rototilled field. He says keeping the pigs at bay is a never-ending battle, but he may be getting help. As in many Southern states, there is a “shoot on sight” order for feral animals, so folks can go hog wild hunting the wild hogs.

Read more → Martha M. Boltz, The Civil War: Hogs uproot Vicksburg Battlefield, The Washington Times, January 18, 2012.