Part One: Loving in Vicksburg!
This has been an eventful couple of days! We left Montgomery, AL, fairly early on Friday morning. Our clocks are still set to Eastern Daylight time, so we're trying to fool ourselves into getting up early!
Our route took us to US 80 just one exit south on I65 from our RV park. 80 is a four-lane divided highway all the way to I20 near Cuba and Toomsuba, except for a few miles near Uniontown. Union town is a very depressed area, with deteriorating structures along the road and a multitude of people sitting on their porches watching the world go by. Sad. The remainder of the road, however is great, even through Selma, where we were able to take a bypass and avoid the infamous Edmund Pettus Bridge.
US 80 provided us with a "close" look at the famous southern "love bugs"! They are everywhere, and almost impossible to remove. Check out the windshield.
Just after merging onto I20, we crossed into Mississippi!
With the front of the motorhome festooned with hundreds of sticky little critters, we pulled into Vicksburg, 292 miles later, and found the Ameristar Casino RV Park.
And settled into site 32. After being assigned site 18, where another motorhome was already set up...
Since we were to be in Vicksburg for a couple of nights, we immediately disconnected the Equinox tow car from the motorhome, only to find that the battery was dead! Fortunately, a neighbor happened by with a battery charger, and soon we were up and running. No idea why the dead battery, but we bought extra long, extra heavy jumper cables today (Saturday) so that we can get going from the motorhome until the problem is diagnosed. Bummer!
A quick trip around the immediate area got us a look at the mighty Mississippi River!
Part 2: The Key to the South.
One major reason for the extra day in Vicksburg is the Vicksburg National Military Park. This park rivals Gettysburg in it's setting, complexity, and importance to both the North and the South during the Civil War. Vicksburg was a major shipping and supply hub for the south, and Abraham Lincoln recognized that without Vicksburg, the North had little or no chance of winning the conflict, so he sent his best generals, U.S. Grant and William Sherman, to take the city.
Starting in December of 1862, General Grant begins the maneuvers that he expects will force the surrender of Vicksburg. All fail, including digging a canal to bypass Vicksburg's artillery batteries. In the spring of 1863, Grant marches 45,000 men down the Louisiana side of the Mississippi, crosses over, and prepares to attach Vicksburg from the south. Infuriated by the Confederate defenses of the city, he marches east and captures Jackson, the state capital of Mississippi, and then marches west again toward Vicksburg. By May 22, Grant had attempted attacks against many perceived weak points in the Confederate defenses, only to be repulsed each time. He decides to lay siege to the city. Gunboats pummeled the city from the river, while cannon fired upon it from the surrounding hills. Residents were reduced to digging caves into hillsides for protection, and food and ammunition began to run out.
On July 3, 1863, Confederate General John C. Pemberton, the leader of the defenses, realized that he must negotiate favorable surrender terms, and on July 4, 1863, after 46 days of siege, Vicksburg surrenders. The terms he was granted allowed all his men to return home with the promise of fighting no more. The Mississippi was in Federal control, and allowed supplies and troops to supply Federal forces for the remainder of the war. Over 17,000 Union soldiers died and over 5,000 Confederate troops were killed.
We determined that a visit to the Military Park was in order, and entered the 16-mile tour at the Visitors Center.
As at Gettysburg, the tour road leads the visitor along the Union lines, and then returns along the Confederate defense positions. Each location of a militia, battery, or siege trench is marked by strangely beautiful monuments. After the war, the federal government authorized each state to provide a suitable monument (or monuments) to be placed near where their citizens had fought. The northern states immediately placed memorials at each and every battlefield, while the southern states were so debilitated by the war that it was decades before monuments could be placed honoring southern efforts. Even today, there is a marked difference in the number and "awesomeness" of the markers for each side.
Imagine that there is not a tree, a bush, or a bit of grass on these rolling hills. Each opposing side, could, therefor see each other with clarity. How frightening that must have been!
The Shirley House is the onlysurviving residence on the battleground. The family was separated when the siege began, with parents trapped in another city. Two daughters were tasked with the defense of the "White House", it's slaves, and the surrounding cotton fields. All was lost as the Forty-fifth Illinois infantry used it as headquarters and excavated hundreds of bomb-proof shelters around it to protect themselves from Confederate artillery fire. It has been restored to it's 1863 appearance.
The Wisconsin Memorial is topped by a magnificent Eagle.
And one of the Ohio markers is especially poignant.
Remains of trenches appear everywhere, marking the hard labor military tactics of the day.
This 220 foot tall obelisk caught our eye, but not our pencil, as we forgot to note who it honors! I believe it honors the Union Navy, but don't quote me on that!
Near the northern border of the park, adjacent to the Vicksburg National Cemetery, it the U.S.S. Cairo Museum. Pronounced "karo" in these parts, the ship is believed to have been the first to have been sunk by electrically operated mines. The steam powered ironclad, built in 100 days, was on a mine-sweeping mission on the Yazoo River, just north of Vicksburg, when it struck a mine, sank in 12 minutes without the loss of a single life, and lay buried in the mud until found in the 1950's. Raised, stabilized, and displayed, the ship is an example of Union manufacturing superiority.
Sorry, just had to take a selfie!
The ship is covered with a tremendous canvas structure, but is still slowly deteriorating as the years pass.
This steam powered vessel required 2,000 pounds of coal an hour!
The paddlewheel, located amidships, was rotated by a system of levers and gears.
The protected sides of the vessel allowed the onboard cannon to fire almost simultanously. It's not shown here, but on the other side of the ship, a section of the hull is shown with railroad ties that were used as armor.
Of the 17,000 plus casualties of the Vicksburg siege that are buried in the National Cemetery, over 15,000 are unknown.
The Missouri memorial is impressive in that each panel, left and right, portrays the eternal Civil War story: the battle between sons and fathers, daughters and mothers, brothers and brothers. There has not been a war in this country that so ripped apart families.
On this site on July 4, 1863, Lt. General Pemberton surrendered to General Grant.
This rather flamboyant pose of Brigadier General Lloyd Tilghman is certainly striking!
And of course, everything is bigger in Texas!
We left Vicksburg National Military Park saddened by the extraordinary carnage that took place here. I'm glad that the site has been set aside to honor those who fought and died for their beliefs, whatever they may be.
Fitting that the last monument we saw was a covered cannon. One can only hope that one day cannons, both literal and figurative, may be covered.
We ducked down to the Mississippi River for a look at a barge heading down river. Seemed to be an expensive way to transport broken concrete!
At Rusty's Riverfront Grill, we enjoyed one of the best seafood meals of our trip: oysters, crab cakes, grilled grouper, oh my! Check it out if you're ever in the area!
Tomorrow we're outta here. If all goes well and the creeks don't rise, we'll be in Texas when the sun sets tomorrow night. Unfortunately, they've had so much rain over there that the creeks may rise!
Back in a few!
