Vicksburg, Mississippi

Great Husband is really into weather. He brings along his weather radio on our travels, which means he is good at choosing which day is better for a hike and which day is better for a museum, but which also means he can be victimized by unnecessary weather worries. Late this afternoon, after we had finished our day of touring here in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and had returned to the camper, the weather radio announced that large hail and ferocious winds were fast approaching. But in his listening haste, Great Husband didn’t quite catch the details. Although the radio listed the affected counties we hadn’t a clue which county Vicksburg is in, so did the dire prediction really apply to us? Regardless, we jumped into the car and dashed for security at the car wash. Car wash? Yes, where better than one of those covered bays to shelter the car from hail and sit out the storm? Well, wherever that dastardly hail actually went, it didn’t get to us!

I really didn’t mind; I know it is better to humor Great Husband’s weather phobia than buck that personality trait. I used the time in the car wash to start reading a book written by a soldier about his experiences in the Civil War, a book serendipitously appropriate to our visit earlier today to the Vicksburg National Military Park. Within the first few lines of the book, I learned that this very soldier had been involved on the Union side in the siege of Vicksburg!

The Military Park here has a nice museum with artifacts of the battle, but it’s best to start with the very good 20-minute film which sets the scene and gives an explanation of the siege. We also liked the large narrated wall map, lit with red and blue LEDs to show the Union and Confederate troop movements. Battles between the forces are represented by a frenzy of flashing yellow lights plus sound effects.

We took the 16-mile scenic driving tour of the battleground and siege positions, which includes hundreds of monuments and statues and plaques. It is wonderful that this has been preserved and honor given this way to those who fought and died, but it is easy to come down with monument overload. More interesting to both Great Husband and me was the Union iron-clad gunboat Cairo, part of the “Brown Water Navy” established to fight on the Mississippi and its tributaries during the Civil War. In the 1960s the Cairo was lifted from the muddy depths where it sank in 1862, the first ship ever brought down by a mine. It is now preserved in a magnificent outdoor display. 

Vicksburg National Military Park

One of many monuments at Vicksburg NMP

Gunboat Cairo