Vicksburg, MS

     Our destination today was Vicksburg. Originally we were going to move the RV there, but decided to just make a day trip of it. The town is located on the Mississippi River and was the site of one of the major battles of the Civil War as the Union sought to take control of the Mississippi. Command of the river would allow Union troops to move up and down the river and would divide Texas, Arkansas and much of Louisiana from the rest of the Confederacy.
     We went to the Vicksburg National Military Park just outside the city. We stopped at the Visitor Center and watched a movie which gave an overview of the extensive battles in the area. Then we took off on a 16 mile one-way drive which winds through the ridges and valleys on the bluffs above the city of Vicksburg and the Mississippi River. Lt. General John Pemberton had about 50,000 Confederate troops to keep the river open. Maj. General Ulysses S. Grant had 45,000 men in his Union forces as they began the first of many attacks on the Confederate Army situated on the high bluffs, protected by artillery batteries along the riverfront. It amazed us to see how close the two armies were during their many battles - sometimes only 100 yds. We could still see the trenches, tunnels and earth redoubts protecting the railroad.
     

  On December 12 1882 the Union sent ironclad gunboats up the Yazoo River, north of Vicksburg to attack the Confederate batteries from that direction. The gunboat, Cairo, was the first boat sunk by an electrically detonated torpedo (now called a mine). When it went down in the Yazoo it sank into the mud and was very well preserved. The remains of the gunboat was recovered and reconstructed. It is an amazing display on the grounds of the military park. I love to able to walk around, touch and really see the size and shape of the historic object, rather than dozens of artifacts in a museum. Eventually, after many lives lost on both sides, Pemberton surrendered.  Grant had finally won by blockading the city and the Confederate soldiers were too ill and hungry to fight any longer.  The taking of Vicksburg was a major turning point in the Civil War.   

     After leaving the park we drove a scenic route down into downtown Vicksburg. The drive took us along the river which is in full flood. We realized when we got down to the River Drive that we were BELOW the level of the river. Huge levees were holding the water back - leaking a fair bit in places, too. Some of the casinos along the river were half under water. We watched a big barge struggle to get up stream between the arches of a bridge. The river may need to be shut down to all commercial traffic which will seriously affect the economy of the area. We also saw warnings about road closings along Hwy. 61 which is the “Great River Road” that we were planning to follow back home to Minnesota.