The Vicksburg District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is celebrating 150 years of service to the nation.

An internal celebration was held on Aug. 18, the date of the 150th anniversary, and a public celebration featuring speakers like Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and Vicksburg Mayor George Flaggs Jr. was held on Aug. 23.

The district was established in 1873 as a U.S. Army engineering post in Monroe. Its founding engineer was Capt. William Henry Harrison Benyaurd, who was sent from St. Louis, Missouri, to open the outpost under the authority of the Office of Western River Improvements.

Shortly after opening the Monroe location, Benyuard asked to move it to Vicksburg. The city, built by French colonists in 1719, is located on a high bluff on the east bank of the Mississippi River.

The city’s strategic importance became apparent during the Civil War. It was used as a major port by the Confederate States of America and was captured by Union troops as part of the Anaconda Plan in July 1863. The fall of Vicksburg is often considered the turning point of the conflict.

Shortly after coming to Mississippi, Benyaurd noted the location of Vicksburg and moved his post there, opening the engineering office on Aug. 18, 1873. He served as its engineer for the next 10 years, initiating 22 projects for the improvement of the Mississippi River and its tributaries.

Benyaurd removed wrecks from the Mississippi, Ouachita, Red and Yazoo rivers, stabilized river banks and added harbor protection technologies.

The Civil War severely damaged more than a century and a half of flood protection works, greatly enhancing the need for the engineer’s work. In 1879, the U.S. Congress created the Mississippi River Commission to centralize all river-related projects. Five years later, Capt. Eric Bergland established the first permanent engineer’s office in Vicksburg.

In 1927, the greatest flood disaster in the nation’s history struck the Lower Mississippi River Valley. At this time, the Vicksburg District supervised 420 miles of levees.

Despite the best efforts of then-engineer Maj. John C. H. Lee and his staff, levees along the Arkansas and Mississippi rivers failed, flooding large parts of Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana. Damages were estimated at about $104 million.

After this flood, district engineers expanded their efforts, completing new floodwalls and drainage structures. In 1973, another devastating flood struck the district, but its engineering work and labor efforts prevented losses estimated to be around $4.4 billion.

The district continues its important work today with hundreds of navigation and risk management projects and more than 1,100 federal workers, said Col. Christopher D. Klein, commander of the district since 2022.

The district serves a 68,000-square-mile area across portions of Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana. This area holds nine watersheds and incorporates approximately 460 miles of mainline Mississippi River levees.

Part of the district’s ongoing mission is dredging and keeping waterways open to move products and keep commerce flowing, Klein said.

“We’ve got a dredge going up and down the river to keep corn, soy and other products coming out of areas like the Corn Belt in Iowa,” he said. “We’ve been doing this since 1873 when Capt. Benyaurd came in after the war and said, ‘We need to reopen a waterway for commerce.’ The key to a strong nation is utilizing this very significant water asset to move products out to the world. So, for 150 years, we’ve been keeping the river open to commerce.”

Klein said the district’s efforts make “small businesses into big businesses.”

“We utilize small family-owned construction firms, who do levee raises, bring in gravel and dirt, dredge and do all kinds of other stuff within and for the state of Mississippi as well as our tri-state region,” he said. “We make a huge small business investment.”

Klein added that the district also hires local talent to complete its varied tasks. He recruits professionals across all fields — and not just engineers — to work at the Vicksburg facility and throughout the region.

“We find local folks who want to come back and reinvest in growing their communities,” Klein said. “For example, we’ve got flood control lakes up in northern Mississippi. We employ a whole bunch of park rangers. They’re really special because they’re biologists, zoologists and foresters. They go get their degrees then come back to the towns they grew up in and make a difference. And we have stories like that throughout our workforce.”

Klein said the Corps of Engineers is the nation’s architectural and engineering firm, and the Vicksburg District is a key component of its overall success.

“And we can attribute that success to the talent we have here in Mississippi,” he said. “We hire — in addition to engineers — MBAs, CPAs, public affairs specialists, lawyers, real estate professionals, and security and safety folks. These are local folks who believe in building their communities.”

Klein said the district is looking forward to another 150 years of operations.

“Our mission may be different, and things may look a little different, but we’ll be here serving our nation at the 300-year mark,” he said. “Without these open waterways, small towns die, and the economy suffers. We understand the gravity of this mission and are humbled by the opportunity to tackle it every single day.”

Klein is assisted in his duties by his civilian second-in-command, Patricia Hemphill. Hemphill is a native of Vicksburg and understands the district’s importance to the region.

She said it is a privilege to work alongside other civilians and especially so many military personnel.

“Our workforce believes in selfless service and serving with integrity,” she said. “I think that’s a core part of our success. It’s a privilege to serve our state, the tri-state area and the nation.”

Hemphill said that the celebration motivates her to look toward the future.

“After all, at 150 years, we’re just getting warmed up,” she said.