August 26, 2015 Three Hour Tour (Tuesday night: Vicksburg MS Walmart) (Wednesday night: McGehee MS Walmart)

We departed Ft. Pickens Florida Tuesday afternoon.  We had a very enjoyable nearly two-weeks there.  

Glen drove to Vicksburg MS yesterday afternoon.  The temperature dropped to the low 80's, which encouraged us to stay on the parking lot of Walmart.  We weren't the only ones taking advantage of the hospitality of Walmart.

This morning we went to the Visitor Center of the Vicksburg National Military Park.  
President Lincoln called Vicksburg "the key".  He believed "the war can never be brought to a close until that key is in our pocket."  

In late 1862 General Sherman attempted amphibious maneuvers to force Vicksburg to surrender.  All failed.  In March 1863 General U.S. Grant started moving his men to south of Vicksburg.  From that date Vicksburg was beseiged by Grant and his soldiers.  On July 3 1863 General Pemberton, Confederate leader, met with Grant to discuss terms of surrender.  Only July 4, surrender was official.

Vicksburg sits high on bluffs (nearly 400') above the Missississippi (and Yazoo) Rivers.  Being on the bluffs Gen. Pemberton definitely had the advantage over General Grant and his soldiers at the foot of those bluffs.  But Grant was determined and set seige to the area.  Vicksburg was nearly starved by the time of surrender.  

We chose to tour the battlefield with the guidance of "Gary" an officially licensed tour guide.  Gary studied 14 months and took a six-hour oral exam to qualify as a guide.  He certainly made the battle come alive.  It was much more than a 16-mile drive with bluffs on either side.  He enabled us to see the course of the battle, the difficulties of being on the bottom of the bluffs; the weather during the spring and summer months, the part the river and the boats going north and south played in the battle and in the entire war.  

Gary was with us for three hours.  He told us he could have easily used eight hours to share his knowledge.  It is amazing the facts and figures, the stories of both the North and South that he knew.

There are 1340 monuments of different styles and sizes throughout the battlefield.  States started in the early 1900s marking and honoring the regiments, generals, soldiers with monuments.

 This is the monument from the State of Missouri.  The photo below explains the panels on either side of the monument.

"Here Brothers Fought"---brothers against brothers.

 This honors the Navy.  Remember the mighty Mississippi River and the ships that brought supplies for both sides.

Arkansas is honored with this monument.

 The Cairo was "the first armored vessel in the history of warfare to be sunk by a torpedo."

The Cairo was raised from the mud in the 1960's.  

On the left of the ship is original iron, cladding the Cairo.  

 One of many panels set throughout the National Cememtery.

If you enjoy or want to learn more about Civil War-era history visit a battlefield cemetery.  You readers in Missouri there is a great battlefield in Springfield MO.  

We drove nearly three hours after the visit to the Battlefield.  We have stopped at the Walmart in McGehee Mississippi.  17 miles west of Vicksburg we turned onto highway 65.  We travelled through Louisiana into Arkansas.  We will travel Highway 65 all the way to Branson, arriving there Thursday afternoon.