Vicksburg National Military Park in two days

I am pleased to announce that this excursion did not begin with a trip to the grocery store. :)

We found an invitation on Facebook for Vicksburg National Military Park's Living History. Of course, we immediately made plans to attend! For those of you who are familiar with us, yes, we actually made plans to go to Vicksburg and made it!

If you have never visited Vicksburg National Military Park, boy are you missing out!  With an $8 per car fee, it is a very inexpensive activity for the whole family.  By the way, I also found out that once you pay the park fee they will give you a receipt that is good for free entrance to the park for the next six days! If you don't make it through everything in one day, no worries! And there is so much to see!  Some of the most impressive monuments outside of Washington, D.C. can be found within (and some with-out) the boundaries of the park.

The brochure said "Living History" would start on Friday, so that is when we showed up.  Turned out, Friday was set-up day and the actual demonstrations would not begin until the next day.  We were pretty bummed, but neither Heather nor myself had been to the park in many, many, many, many moons, so we decided to take the driving tour around the park. 

At this juncture I would like to point out that we had Heather's oldest boy (12) and my youngest (1) in the car.  I also forgot to gas up before we hit the driving tour. The lack of gas and the extensiveness of the park meant we were rolling with windows down in 90 degree weather.  The children were unamused to say the least. 

We cruised by several busts and monuments on the Union battle lines before stopping at a row of cannon to catch an amazing view of the Illinois monument in the distance.

This is probably the most well known monument in the Vicksburg National Military Park.  Once you get around to it, it is stunning.  The list of all the Illinois men who fought for the Union, the tile work, the detailing...it is all very beautiful!  I know my one year old enjoyed the echo and the cool place to run in circles after being stuck in the car for a few hours.

Next to the Illinois monument is the Shirley House.

This is the only structure still standing within the park that saw the bloody siege at Vicksburg! This house was trenched all the way around by Union troops.  The scars left by the deep trenches of warfare are still evident 150 years later! It was abandoned, but has now been restored. 

A beautifully cast statue in memory of all soldiers from Mississippi of African descent who fought in the Vicksburg campaign can be found in the park. 

The detailing was amazing! You can almost feel the struggle these soldiers endured from the looks on their faces. I was blown away by the craftsmanship.

Now, for those of you who have followed us for awhile, you know that a few months back we started out on Grant's March...but never finished it due to the fact that he didn't pass any McDonald's. he weaved drunkenly about the state. we ran out of time.  Well folks, I am here to conclude the search for Ulysses S. Grant.  We finally found him...and his horse...at the Vicksburg National Military Park!

***Spoiler Alert*** By the end of this trip we were across the River in Louisiana and found a Grant's March sign (maniacally laughing at Heather) and yes I do plan on us pounding out the earlier portions of Grant's March on the Cajun side of things, sometime in the near future! (Heather will probably go if I stock up on drinks and cheeseburgers first...)

Our next stop after harassing U.S. Grant, was the U.S.S. Cairo Gunboat and Museum.  Here, we got the kiddos out and looked around for a bit because it was air conditioned! because this was an amazing sight to behold.

The U.S.S. Cairo is a Civil War Era ironside gunboat.  It was retrieved from the Yazoo River where it was sunk during a skirmish. In the late fifties, the process began to bring her up and restore her to her former glory. Thanks to the Mississippi mud and silt, the gunboat was well preserved.

This framing for the paddle wheel was once a mangled mass at the bottom of the Yazoo.  Old wood and new wood is mixed to bring the Cairo back to life.  The museum portion of this stop houses thousands of artifacts also brought up with the gunboat.  Dishes and silverware, cannon and weapons, along with medicine bottles and lots of other artifacts are well preserved and great to look at.  There is also a small gift shop here (which I believe was Matt's favorite portion of the day).

Across from the Cairo is the Vicksburg National Cemetery.  Here you can find the largest interment of Civil War Soldiers in the country. 

In this serene setting, over 17,000 soldiers are laid to rest.  Throughout the cemetery are signs offering words of comfort to those with family buried here.

We were pretty tired by this point (that Mississippi Summer heat can wear you down!), so we headed into the Confederate lines with a sense that we were getting close to the end. After climbing a hill,we stopped at an overlook with a spectacular view!

We sort of rushed through the remainder of the park...hunger was setting in at this point.  Heads up...there are no soda machines or hamburger stands inside the park.

One more monument we couldn't pass up was the Mississippi monument. Again, we found the detail just astounding.


A this point, we left the park to find sustenance and retire for the evening.

We did return a few days later to catch the Living History at Vicksburg National Military Park.

When we arrived, this gentleman greeted us and informed us about what was going on.  Also, that we missed a great cannon firing.

 The rest of the re-enactors were in the trenches.

One young fellow went on to tell us about different types of cannon shots and how each was used during the Civil War.  We also found out that the cannon they were firing was a Napolean, thus named for the fact that Napolean Bonapart designed the first cannon that was adapted by others.

Life in the trenches was often boring. No cell phone games or handheld electronics back in those days.

Soldiers waiting on the next skirmish had to keep themselves occupied.  They sometimes took their hats, and using the rods from their long rifles, held the hats up over the trenches to see how many holes they could acquire.  From what we were told, there was often a bet accompanying this game. I think twiddling thumbs sounds a lot safer, personally.

We wrapped up our tour of the battlefield and decided to do a little more touring around Vicksburg before we headed home.

Here was the parting shot Heather got of our new Civil War friends. Were they not the most adorable things ever!

Next time we will tell you what happened the rest of the day. :)

Have a wonderful Summer!
Rosemary