Saturday, November 11, 2006

Vicksburg

Gorgeous weather yesterday as we scooted the 16 mile tour of the Vicksburg National Military Park. For the most part the first half of the tour follows the Union lines during the 47 day siege and the latter half the Confederate placements. It's very interesting learning of Civil War battles from the South's point of view!

Every state that had soldiers there has a major memorial - very beautiful ones - and many smaller ones all over the park representing, I guess, places they were defending or attacking from. We walked in the trenches, tunnels and fields the soldiers did, thinking of all the blood spilled and lives lost in that crucial time in our country's history.

They raised a gunboat in the 1960s, built a "ghosted" framework and it is now on display. It sank in only 12 minutes from a mine with no loss of life. Amazing relics on display. (Did you know rhubarb's most common use is medicinal? We all thought it was better in pies!)

We drove around the old part of town enjoying the many antebellum homes still around. We were going to visit one today but they stopped tours until next Feb.

We did visit the Courthouse Museum today. Lots of stories of people from the area and many artifacts. Most were from the Civil War era but some up through WWII.

The North sure mistreated the southerners, black and white alike, after the war. They both did a miserable job taking care of prisoners. Over 26,000 southerners and more than 22,000 northerners died in prison camps. Not a very admirable time.

The temperature dropped by about 30 degrees today so we really had to bundle up to ride the scooter. Didn't do much driving around as a result so we were glad we enjoyed our day out yesterday. We leave in the morning for Mobile.

Side notes: Dayna won't need further surgery any time soon. She'll just have to live with the pain and fortunately she has a high threshold like her dad. Unlike her son who screamed and hollered at the ER Wed. as he had to have four stitches above his eye due to a skateboard accident. Continued to holler after it was numbed & he couldn't feel a thing!!

3 comments:

  1. I've never spent any time in the south, and only really know if it from novels and movies.

    Someday we'll have to visit too!

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  2. I'm sure you'll see remaining affects of Katrina while in that area. That might be interesting, too. Sounds like a fascinating tour all around.

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  3. I can't remember whether you had any ancestors who fought there 150 years ago, but I often think of the woman who was volunteering at one of the Military Parks in the south when we visited. We discussed how her great grandfather and mine could have been there, trying to kill each other, and we were having a friendly conversation about that bloody battle. That war has always been so interesting to me, and I'll never forget the day in 1931, when a Civil War Veteran came to my third grade class. I can't remember who he was, or what he said, but seeing that old man entering the room has stayed in my mind clearly for 75 years.

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