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Published: June 29th 2019
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In 1863 Vicksburg was under siege for 47 days from the Union Army lead by General Grant. On July 4 the city finally surrendered marking a turning point in the Civil War. One of the reasons they didn’t have a hope was the fact that they were bombarded with cannons from gunboats on the river. These were incredible floating iron structures.
The Cairowas sunk in 1863 by a mine remotely detonated by hand, and a hundred years later was raised. It is now on show at the Vicksburg National Military Park.
Vicksburg is in a strategic position on the confluence of the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers. However it has lost this somewhat after the Mississippi changed course and cut it off.
It has had its fair share of disasters with a major flood in 1927 and again in 2011 when thousands of acres were underwater and the city acted as a gathering point for refugees. A major tornado in 1953 killed 38 people and caused a huge amount of damage.
The Army Core of Engineers was established to work on ways of flood protection and control. The new system has yet to be tested. Let’s hope it holds.
We spent ages in the Lower Mississippi River Museum looking at these new systems they have developed as well as going through a river towboat, in reality I think it is a push boat as they push barges rather than tow them. This one was moved up on the hard after being decommissioned. One of the interesting aspects was the use of computers in the early 90s with big clunky laptops.
A display on pests both flora and fauna highlighted Water Hyacinth as a plant pest. Way back near New Orleans I though I had spotted a small piece floating down the river and sure enough that was what it was. If you‘ve ever been on the Mekong delta you will know the menace that it can be. since that first sighting I’ve seen a dozen or so clumps floating down.
A highlight of Vicksburg were the Tiffany windows in the Roman Catholic Church. They are very distinctive and are easily recognisable as they used the copper foil system of outlining shapes of the original image and soldering them with lead. The Blue Angel is particularly beautiful with glass textured almost like paint impasto.
Vicksburg was the
first place that Coca Cola was bottled, in 1894 By Joseph Biedenharn. He then set about selling it around the district.
The local museum in the former Court House was stuffed full of artefacts including a very early sewing machine. It also contains a genuine ‘Teddy’ bear gifted by President Theodore Roosevelt after whom the bear was named. Except we couldn’t find it.
Anchuca is the local antebellum mansion which is now a B and B. Anchuca mean ‘Happy Place’ in Natchez Indian language. It is now owned by a very eccentric gentleman who has a fixation on the British Royal Family with a display of coronation collectables including a mug prepared for Edward VIII who of course was never crowned.
It has been much cooler today with a couple of thunder storms passing through. On the bus half way around a torrential downpour started. Out came the bins of plastics ponchos for everyone. It’s very impressive how well prepared AQ is for any eventuality.
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