We continued to travel east across the Mississippi River. The kids and I had never seen the river before. We were there at the time of year when the water is low and the vegetation is starting to go dormant, but it was still impressive to cross the bridge.
We stopped at the visitor's center right inside Mississippi to take some photos.
Este had this strange desire to put his head in a cannon.
As we moved on to the Vicksburg National Military Park (click
here for website) the fascination with putting his head in a cannon continued and spread to the other children.
The captivation of putting his head in a cannon finally grew old as there are hundreds of cannons throughout the park.
The fascination just with cannons continued. They make for fun photo opportunities.
Vicksburg was the site where Union troops failed on several attempts to take the city from the Confederate Army. The Union troops eventually laid siege on the city that lasted for 47 days in the heat of a Mississippi summer. Confederate leaders raised the white flag on July 4, 1863. When the Union army had control of Vicksburg and the Mississippi River, it cut the Confederacy essentially in half. Next year marks the 150th anniversary of the siege.
At the time of the Civil War, the land was clear. Farmers had cleared the land for their crops and what few trees that were left were used by Confederate soldiers to build their forts. Since forming the national park most of the areas were allowed to reforest.
Coming from Utah, I couldn't believe the amount of vegetation, and again, we were there when everything was going dormant. I really want to return in the spring or summer when the vegetation is green. It was still beautiful even in this time of year.
Once the Union leaders laid siege to the city they put the soldiers to work digging trenches. This is one area of the park where those trenches can still be seen through the forestation.
The park consists of hundreds of monuments to both sides of the conflict. Here are just a few:
The Illinois monument.
The monument for the Naval forces involved.
Of course we had to stop and take photos of the Texas monument.
After the above photo Aaron told us to just be normal. That is as "normal" as it gets around here.
You may be wondering how we were able to take so many photos of the boys. We simply told them they would not eat if they did not smile. We are learning that they key to a teenaged boy is through is stomach.
This is the Shirley House that is the only structure still present after the war. The Union army was camped in the yard of this house while the Confederates were only a few hundred feet away. I cannot imagine what the constant noise of cannons and gunfire would have been like.
I was also amazed at the closeness of the battle at certain areas. The blue plaques represent the Union brigades and the red plaques represent the Confederate forces. There were several places where hand-to-hand combat took place.
There was one area in particular where the Union soldiers tried to overtake the Confederate strong hold. The Union soldiers were fighting to get up this hill to no avail. The terrain is obviously treacherous.
We spent some time in the USS Cairo museum in the park. This is what Esteban was really interested in. The sunken ironclad that had been brought up off the river floor.
Este is studying AP U.S. History this year and we enjoyed having him explain the history of the area.
The inner workings of the ship was fascinating.
It was nice to spend the day out in nature. The fall foliage was beautiful.
There were thousands of lady bugs.
The most poignant part of the park was the cemetery where 17,000 soldiers have been buried. Being there renewed my gratitude for those who have fought to make my country what it is today.
After taking an afternoon learning and experiencing history we headed back home discussing where our next road trip may lead us. The possibilities are endless.
