A bill authorizing the study of Civil War sites along routes soldiers followed in the Campaign for Vicksburg was approved by the U.S. House Monday and will move up Pennsylvania Avenue for presidential approval.

The Vicksburg Campaign Trail Battlefields Preservation Act of 1999 authorizes a study on options to protect historic Civil War sites in Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee that were a part of the 1862-63 campaign led by Union Gen. U.S. Grant.

The National Park Service will assess the condition of each site, detail what preservation steps are needed and if the task should be undertaken by the federal government, state or private interests. The bill authorizes the park service to spend up to $1.5 million on the study, but does not appropriate any funding. Money will have to be allocated in a different bill.

“The Vicksburg Military Park already brings about one million visitors a year to Warren County, where in 1863, one of the most significant military confrontations of American military history took place,” said Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss. “This bill will complement the existing park by helping to preserve other related, yet endangered, historical sites which were part of the long and complex Vicksburg siege. The Vicksburg Campaign Trail will attract even more visitors, giving them a complete view of this tragic yet very important event which helped shape our nation.”

The measure received Senate approval this summer and joined a companion bill already signed by the President. The Corinth Battlefield Preservation Act of 1999, Senate Bill 1117, establishes the Corinth Unit of the Shiloh Military Park and provides an additional $3 million to the authorized $6 million for the Corinth Interpretive Center.

Both bills were introduced by Lott.