Historians know and Civil War decision-makers knew that Vicksburg and the Mississippi River were key in the war that divided the country in the 1860s.

The victor of the pivotal area would not be decided in days, or even months, and the battleground would not be in only one spot.

Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant attempted to take the river — the lifeline of commerce throughout the nation — at Vicksburg more than once.

But only after Union troops were forced east of the city, as far as Raymond, and into battles there and at Champion’s Hill near Edwards could the Yankees get to Vicksburg, lay siege and, after 47 days, take the city that Abraham Lincoln called “the Gibraltar of the South.”

Beginning Thursday, The Friends of Raymond, a group of history afficionados, will have more than 1,500 re-enactors taking part in the re-enactment of three battles — in Raymond, Edwards and Vicksburg.