Day 5:

The plan for Vicksburg was to spend as long as it takes to see everything at the Vicksburg National Military Park, as much as two full days. If it didn’t take a full two days, then I would use my remaining time to visit museums around town. This plan was compromised almost from the beginning. When I woke up on Day 5, it was COLD outside. The windchill was TWELVE degrees Fartinaintright. BUT, a big warmup (into the mid-40’s) was expected for the afternoon. This seemed like a great excuse to go back to sleep. So, I got another hour of sleep, then slowly got my act together and went to the Military Park. Once there, I started at the visitor center. This first trio of photos were taken in the visitor center parking lot before going in:

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Once inside the visitor center, I quickly browsed the displays and watched a short film about the fall of Vicksburg. I knew nothing about the Vicksburg campaigns, so I learned a lot here. Folks, this was a seriously complex undertaking by the Union. There were several battles / skirmishes involved, but ultimately the Union won it by besieging the city and starving them out. And since it was won by siege, the “battleground”, and thus the National Military Park, forms an arc around the city (the Mississippi River completes the ring around the city, as river traffic was controlled by the Union). This makes for the biggest battleground I’ve ever visited. The road that loops around the property is 16 miles long! Around the turn of the 20th century, each state that had men engaged in the siege (both Union and Confederacy states) erected monuments at all the locations around the property where that state’s men had fought or been encamped. A few of the states also erected a single, BIG monument, to honor all of the men they provided. There are over 1,300 total monuments and markers scattered all over this huge tract of land. For obvious reasons, I decided to spend time at (and photograph) only the biggest and most interesting of them. So, let’s get started, Folks! (That’s your name, right? ”Folks”?)

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We’ll be back to crown our champion, after this word from the battlefield itself…

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As sunset approached, I had reached approximately the halfway point of the loop, which seemed like a logical stopping point. I figured I’d come back and do the second half of the loop tomorrow. But as I
drove back to the hotel, I talked myself into going somewhere different tomorrow. We’ll just have to wait and see where that might be.

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Day 6:

Wow, that wasn’t a very long wait. I decided to start with the Vicksburg Civil War Museum. I got there right at opening time, and learned this this museum is pretty much a one-man operation. I had been there for maybe half an hour when that one man informed me that something had come up requiring him to step out, so he politely asked that I step out for a bit as well. He recommended I check out the Jesse Brent Lower Mississippi River Museum a few blocks away, then come on back when I was done there. The JBLMRM was already on my list of “maybes” and admission is free, so I decided to follow his advice. I was not disappointed.

The Jesse Brent Lower Mississippi River Museum is quite interesting. It covers the history of the river, and human usage, as well as the ecology and ongoing projects by the Army Corps of Engineers to keep the river safely navigable. The most interesting thing I learned there was this:

As I’m sure many of you know, the Mississippi has a history of moving from one river channel to another pretty much whenever it wants, without regard to human shipping needs. Well, during the 1870’s, the river did just that at Vicksburg, leaving the town portless. For nearly 30 years, the important port city of Vicksburg was without a port. Fascinating, no?

I left the Brent Jesse Rivulem Missippi thingie about noon to go get some lunch. As recommended by the museum staff, I went to a restaurant called Walnut Hills for some old-school southern food. This restaurant is located inside a historic home, which added a nice touch to the experience. I ordered a chicken-fried steak. It was yum.

All morning, Parkinson’s had me feeling pretty weak; after lunch I felt completely exhausted. I retreated to the hotel, intending to relax until the next round of Levodopa kicked in, then head back to the Vicksburg Civil War Museum. But the meds didn’t seem to be helping; I still felt too exhausted to be walking around a museum. So, I spent the rest of the day playing video games on my laptop, and never made it back the museum. Sadly, that’s it for Vicksburg. But not for the state. (To be continued…)