Pemberton Headquarters (Willis-Cowan House)

The man who surrendered Vicksburg was born in Philadelphia. John C. Pemberton married Martha Thompson of Norfolk in 1848 and resigned from the U.S. Army in April 1861 despite pleas from family and General Winfield Scott; two younger brothers fought for the Union. Southern governors distrusted him in 1862. On July 2, 1863 he asked his four division commanders whether the army could break out, and all four said no. He is the only Confederate general buried in Philadelphia.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Old Court House Museum — 0.3 mi
  Vicksburg's Greek Revival courthouse of 1860, raised on a hilltop with the labor of enslaved artisans and now a private local-history museum heavy on Confederate relics.
• Vicksburg National Military Park — 1.6 mi
  A 16-mile tour road through the trenches of the 47-day siege of 1863, with a national cemetery and the story of the thousands of enslaved people who reached freedom behind Union lines.
• USS Cairo Gunboat and Museum — 2.0 mi
  The raised hull of a Union river ironclad sunk by a mine in the Yazoo in 1862, displayed at Vicksburg National Military Park with the artifacts the river mud preserved.

More markers nearby

• Balfour House — steps away
• Dabney and Dabney — 0.2 mi
• Red Tops — 0.2 mi
• Sheriff Peter Crosby — 0.2 mi