Friends of Vicksburg National Military Park and Campaign and the National Park Service have announced a major expansion of the Champion Hill Battlefield site, the second expansion of the site announced this month.

With this newest expansion, the state of Mississippi is transferring more than 800 acres of land in the largest expansion of the Vicksburg National Military Park in its history, according to National Park Service.

The transfer will be made official at a July 2 ceremony to be held at the Champion Hill Missionary Baptist Church, 4143 Champion Hill Road in Edwards, starting at a 10 a.m.

Gov. Phil Bryant, Lt. Governor Tate Reeves, U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, NPS Deputy Director P. Daniel Smith and Brig. Gen. Robert Crear, representing the Friends of Vicksburg National Military Park and Campaign, will be attending.

The first expansion of the Champion Hill Battlefield this month came on June 12, when NPS announced a $109,806 grant award to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History from the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Trust. MDAH is using those grant funds to purchase a 58-acre tract of land known as the Cal-Maine Foods Tract.