Vicksburg National Military Battlefield

Today was the tour I'd been pointing towards for most of this trip, visiting the site of the Civil War battle memorialized in numerous books including April, 1865 by Jan Vinik.  Recommended reading.

The tour of the Field includes the option to view over 1300 monuments, and battles and locations marked 150 years ago by Veterans of the war.  A "Blue and Grey" Association was formed post-war, so those who had fought could climb specific hills to document exactly how the Illinois 5th Regiment had advanced, for example, or the exact dip where another regiment attempted to break the Grey line but was turned back.

We bought a CD to accompany us on the tour of several hours but often go too far ahead or behind of the instruction.  I don't even know where the CD is as of this writing and I'm not sure I'll ever listen to it again, but the information was extensively laid out.

The cannon in the photo at right shows the placement above the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi, enabling the South to control the flow of goods along the river - until Grant's troops won the battle.  There is a reason for the large and small headstones in the cemetery view but I don't recall what it is.

It was just a remarkable experience.  An orientation film and battlefield review in the visitor center were helpful.  Towards the end a museum which houses and "is" the actual USS Cairo, an iron-clad ship sunk by a mine, was an impressive tour.  It is believed to be the first ship ever sunk by a "mine" although the mechanics for doing so included a ropeline extended to soldiers hidden behind bushes on an island.

It was raised from the bottom of the Yazoo in the '60s, after being "located" by the efforts of Edwin Bearss, a civil war historian providing much of the information for the PBS series we watched while in Florida.  It was a laborious task given the deterioration of much of the ship.  The artifacts raised with it were numerous and revealing.  The ship's "doctor", for example, was a butcher from Pennsylvania.

This photo shows the ship is covered by a canopy to protect it from the sun's rays.  It deserves protection given it is in the best condition of the three remaining ironclads from the Civil War.

At the end of the day we ate at the Walnut Hill Restaurant, some fine food in another antebellum home.