Nearly 2,000 elementary students from area schools were in attendance, including music provided by the Utica Jubilee Singers of Hinds Community College. Dressed in the dark-blue wool uniform of a Union Navy seaman, fifteen year old Sam Andrews, a park VIP pictured below, read a portion of the diary of George Yost describing the sinking of the USS Cairo. Yost was also fifteen when he served aboard the ship. After the ceremony, everyone under the age of 18 received a new Vicksburg Quarter and keepsake case from the Mint. According to Park Ranger Tim Kavanaugh, the coin unveiling witnessed by so many children gave the event "a youthful exuberance."
Park VIP Sam Andrews reads a portion of the diary of George Yost describing the sinking of the USS. Cairo. NPS Photo |
Vicksburg Visitors & Convention Bureau |
This is a historic event for the 150th commemoration of the Civil War and its navies. The coin is the ninth to be released in the series. Special thanks to Tim Kavanaugh for providing the CWN 150 with this information.
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