During the siege of Vicksburg many naval guns were loaned to the Army to increase the presence of Federal artillery fire, and normally the cannon were manned by army artillerymen. However, Battery Selfridge was the only battery containing cannon manned exclusively by sailors. The artillery position, named after its commander, Lieutenant Commander Thomas O. Selfridge, Jr., now overlooks the current display and museum of the U.S.S. Cairo ironclad gunboat — the vessel under Selfridge's command when sunk by a mine in the Yazoo River in December 1862.
