Vicksburg Civil War & Courthouse

**(Note: I've updated the Blog ADDING ANOTHER SLIDESHOW, so that both the pictures from yesterday of Natchez Mississippi, along with those taken today in Vicksburg, Mississippi, can be viewed. Just click on either slideshow to see the pictures from that location)

Well we had a really busy today. We got out the door around 10:00 a.m. (that "used" be to a time I considered "late morning" when I was working!). We stopped by the RV Park office to pick up a free copy of the CD used in conjunction with the auto tour portion of the Vicksburg Military Park tour and headed out.

Our first stop was the Vicksburg Military Park visitor center. We then took off on the 3-hour, 18 mile auto tour and used the CD with each monument and stop, which provided lot's of detail, including voice depictions of events that occurred at the time. One of the most amazing things was the breakdown of "Blue" and "Red" throughout the entire Park. They placed Red and Blue markers throughout the park, which depicted the front of the Union and Confederate Lines.

Vicksburg, Mississippi was the site of one of the pivotal battles of the Civil War. It’s importance was its geographic location on the Mississippi River, control of which was crucial for the passage of Union troops and supplies into the South. Located high on the bluffs, Vicksburg was a fortress guarding the Mississippi River. It was known as "The Gibraltar of the Confederacy."

The Union troops were under the direction of Maj. General Ulysses S. Grant; the Confederates under Lt. General John C. Pemberton. The siege lasted 46 days, from May 18 to July 3, 1863. It is ironic that on July 4th, the day of our independence from England, Pemberton surrendered to Grant at Vicksburg. This surrender, coupled with the fall of Port Hudson, Louisiana, divided the South, and gave the North undisputed control of the Mississippi River.

The park sprawls over 1800 acres, contains 1,330 monuments (the most of any military site in the U.S.), provides a 16 mile auto tour road, and whose cemetery provides the burial site of over 17,000 Union soldiers of which over 12,900 are unidentified. It also includes the remains of a Union ironclad gunboat, the U.S.S. Cairo, which was sunk in 1862 and spent 102 years on the bottom of the Yazoo River before being raised in 1964 and later restored.

As you begin your tour on the auto road, you are driving along the Union line and the road is appropriately named Union Avenue. Later you will reach a point where the road changes to Confederate Avenue, at which time you will be following the Confederate line. Many monuments of all sizes line the route. There are, of course, major structures erected by each state whose soldiers fought here. But there are lots of smaller monuments honoring each specific battalion who fought, listing the designation of the battalion, the leader, and the number of soldiers who died and were wounded. One after another, the sheer number of granite stones begins to accumulate and as they do, so does your understanding of the magnitude of the battle and your reverence for this hallowed ground.

One of the most stunning and substantial monuments was from the state of Illinois. Modeled after the Pantheon in Rome, the approach contains 47 steps, one for each of the days that Vicksburg was under siege including the day of surrender. Sixty bronze tablets lining its walls contain the names of all 36,325 soldiers from Illinois who fought at Vicksburg during the Civil War in 1863. Many of the memorials are beautiful and artistic sculptures and structures. Many contain some kind of symbolism, or the absence of same, as some states directed their designers that the monument should not contain any feature that is an expression of war or conflict. One of the most unique memorials, amidst this park full of huge granite and marble structures, was the contemporary Kansas memorial.

One of the relief panels on the base of the Wisconsin monument features a Union soldier shaking hands with a Confederate. According to the audio CD, a two and one half hour truce was declared on May 25 to enable soldiers from both sides to collect the bodies of the many dead that lay upon the field in this area after a particularly long and harsh battle. Flags were unfurled in both camps and soldiers moved freely among the ridges, visiting and trading with friend and foe alike, even entering each other’s camps. Afterward, the war and fighting resumed. War can be quite strange at times huh?

We also spent at least an hour at the Cairo Cannon Ship, which was the only one of seven that did not make it during a trip down the Mississippi by Union soldiers in an effort to take Vicksburg. It was shot by Confederate cannons in strategic locations on the bank and sank in less than an hour. The Cairo was found in the Mississippi and raised July 4, 1965, exactly 102 years after it had sunk. Since it had been in silt/water, much of the ship and lot's of items from the ship were recovered. We were able to board the Cairo boat and took pictures (see slide-show for pictures). Then, we went into the Cairo museum. It was packed full of articles and personal items from the sailors, as well as items from the ship. Everything from spoons (sailors actually carved their name on their utensils), to the ancho, canons, doctor equipment, kitchen equipment, officer items, shoes, etc. etc. Wow! This was an awesome experience!

We then went across the street to the Vicksburg National Cemetary. Of the 17,000 graves from the Civil War era, only 4,000 were identified by name. The other 13,000 was simply buried and assigned a cemetary lot number in which they were buried. We also saw graves from the Spanish American War and World Wars I and II as well. I think that was one of our favorite venues...it's sobering to walk among the graves of these brave men, not knowing who the majority of them were.

Finally, we drove to downtown Vicksburg, to check out the historic Courthouse. This courthouse was established in 1835 and survived the civil war and the numerous bombardments by the Union to destroy it. The items in this historic Courthouse were, well........unbelivable. Beyond description. It was just awesome. Absolutely everything you can think of from the time period, was included. From old family portraits, to furniture, guns and ammunition, clothing, the chair of Jefferson Davis, items passed down from the Jefferson Davis family. In addition to the two story building full of items from the 1800's thru the early 1900's, we found the actual Courthouse which was used by various judges beginning in 1835. We also took pictures of the courthouse. It was the actual courthouse as it was used, with the old jury section chairs, as well as the defendant the judge areas.

Wow! Like I said, we had a busy, but awesome day! We're really glad we took time to make a stop here in Vicksburg. Everything from the Vicksburg National Park to the Cairo Cannon Boat and Museum and the Old Vicksburg Courthouse made for a terrific and wonderful day! I'll update the Blog Slide-show to reflect the 110 pictures taken during our day today.

Well, that's a wrap for today. We leave early tomorrow morning for Savannah, Tennessee. We're planning on spending Saturday & Sunday in the area to check out the Shiloh Civil War Park. Our current plans are to be in Savannah, Tennessee Saturday and Sunday. Moving on to Chattanooga, Tennessee for a few days and then on to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee to spend a few days in the Smoky Mountains. Hope you've enjoyed the info...I'll update after we've seen the Shiloh Civil War Park. Stay tuned....~