VICKSBURG, Miss. – A Maryland group is paying to preserve a Vicksburg National Military Park monument to a Civil War officer killed nearby 143 years ago Tuesday.

As a side benefit, the $5,000 grant from the Maryland Military Monuments Commission is also helping train staff for future maintenance.

The statue of Maryland native and Confederate Brig. Gen. Lloyd Tilghman is one of the more dramatic in the battlefield. It is also nearing an anniversary, having been erected 80 years ago Friday.

The experts on the re-waxing job are Dennis Montagna of the National Park Services regional office in Philadelphia and conservator Ronald S. Harvey of Tuckerbrook Conservation in Lincolnville, Maine.

Montagna said he’s an art historian by training and that he got the idea for the project while visiting the park several years ago.

Tilghman, depicted standing with his arms spread in front of his rearing horse, died when struck by cannon fire in the Battle of Champions Hill, a pivotal battle in the Vicksburg campaign fought near Raymond.