Mississippi River Boat Road Scholar Adventure: Part 8

Fri. Apr. 8: Our lecturer, Brain, had us well prepared for a visit to Vicksburg, the site of what he called the “Most Complicated Battle of the Civil War”. He told us in great detail about the battle between Grant and Pemberton for the last big stronghold on the Mississippi River. Taking control of the Mississippi was one of the three goals of the Union Army. The 5000 citizens of Vicksburg withstood a 47 day siege by living in caves, but eventually Union forces prevailed and the city fell on July 4, 1863. As a result, Independence Day wasn’t celebrated in Vicksburg until after WWII. As usual, we had a local guide on the bus with us to explain what we saw at three stops in the National Park: The Visitors Center, the Illinois Monument, and the U.S.S. Cairo ironclad gunboat and museum. A flood in 1876 cut Vicksburg off from the river, leaving limited access to the new channel. Because of a canal General Grant’s troops began digging during the war (but never finished), the Mississippi River left Vicksburg. In 1903 the United States Army Corps of Engineers diverted the Yazoo River into the old channel to rejuvenate the waterfront, and that is where our boat docked. It was a bit of a quick trip on the bus to do our stops and return to the boat for lunch (on the Front Porch, like every other lunch and all but two breakfasts, when it was too cool). So we didn’t see much of the city itself other than from the bus windows. That gave us the afternoon to hear a lecture by the Riverlorian, watch the 30 minute documentary “Dare to Dream: The Making of the American Queen”, and attend our fourth lecture by Brian, this one on the Civil War. The after dinner program was “Singing the 70s”.

The gateway for the park drive through the battlefield.

All states that had troops at Vicksburg (except for a few southern states)
have built a monument in a place near where their troops fought.
The Michigan monument shows an angel holding a gear.

Illinois had one of the biggest and most imposing of the monuments because
they had so many troops there and because...well, you know, Lincoln.... 

On the floor of the rotunda in the Illinois monument

Even today, viewing the terrain, one can see why the Union troops
(at the bottom) had no hope of  climbing the hills to overcome
the Confederate troops who had the bluff around the city.

Old Vicksburg Courthouse, now a Civil War Museum

The protective tent shades the USS Cairo

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Marv's hand shows how thick the iron pieces were.

The biggest surprise of the trip was how few buildings, factories, or homes are built
along the river.  In places the levies are as much as ten miles away, and all land
along the banks is considered flood plain. This is one of the few dwelling places we saw.