Tuesday morning it was off to visit the Vicksburg national battlefield. After a 20 minute movie we proceeded to drive the 16 mile loop that toured the battlefield.
There were monuments around every corner provided by each state that had soldiers in the battle. After a 47 days siege Grant defeated the confederate army. It was a major turning point of the civil war. The Mississippi river was finally under union control.
The USS Cairo was a ironclad union ship that was sank up river from Vicksburg in 1862. They raised her in 1964 and have restored the ship as you see here.
The ship had 13 cannon each with a crew of 6 and was powered by steam driven pistons and a paddle wheel. Her undoing was a mine in the Yazoo river.
From the top of the ridge you could see the Mississippi River as it snakes it's course through the countryside.
In the afternoon we visited the old courthouse in Vicksburg. Here, Jefferson Davis got his start in politics by announcing his candidacy for the state Senate. It's a pretty good museum.
On Wednesday morning we visited the mural on the waterfront and was amazed at the detailed artwork. The mural is about a block long and tells the story of Vicksburg.
We went to the old depot and wandered the museum which now resides there. It's a wonderful structure.
In the afternoon we drove over to the small town of Raymond to visit the "battlefield park". What we found was this line of cannons and that's all. The good part was that we saw some of rural Mississippi.
Tomorrow we head for Memphis and then on to Nashville. More from there.
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