Vicksburg

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Well now, today Marilyn was out of bed and going with me. Yesterday I did the battlefield by myself but with a guide. That is always the best way to do it. Today we did the historic downtown section. This town has a nice feel to it. This battle or siege was fought in 1863. It ended on the 4th of July, the day after Gettysburg fell. Two major defeats for the Confederacy at once. Hard to believe the war went on for two more years. Anyway, General Grant came down the Mississippi from the north on boats, some of which were gun boats. See picture of the one that was on the river bottom for 100 years but preserved nicely by silt. These boats were loud due to cannon fire and the steam boilers. It was extremely hot also due to the heat and humidity of the area. They had a flat bottom for shallow water and were so heavy that this one sank in only 12 minutes after running into a mine which were called torpedos back then. Very hazardous duty. No one could work below for more than 20 minutes at a time. Now, due to the elevation of the town up on the bluffs, the guns could not aim up that high, but the Confederate cannon did have that high ground to their advantage. Mortars were also tried but not effective either. Grant wisely decided to go past the town to the south and then turn east and come at them from that direction. At this time they were on equal ground and the Confederates had their backs to the river with no escape. A great tactical move on Grants part. This is taught at West Point to this day. It is worth noting that General Norman Schwartzkopf did this exact same thing in Gulf War One. This was not a coincidence but copied from Vicksburg and I am told he mentions this in his book. The siege lasted about 46 days. They ran out of food, water, ammunition, medicine, etc and had to surrender. It is always a great experience for me to visit someplace like this. The ground talks to you like no other place. Today we visited the town and saw the first place that Coca Cola was ever bottled. The Old Courthouse and now museum full of authentic battlefield artifacts and not replicas. The Union gunners shot at it a lot because it was such a prominent landmark but it survived because the confederates put their union prisoners of war in there to put a stop to that. We played some 21 on the river casino where we came out 95 bucks ahead which afforded us dinner at world renowned Rusty's. It was great food. It was cold today but clear and dry. Tommorrow we continue on for Florida and the clubs there.

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Photos

Cemetary
A lot of guys buried here. Thousands.

Marker
Battlefields have these all over them. They are erected by the state that had men there. They are all different and very nice.

Gunboat
Underwater for 100 years. Sank by confederates in 1863 and raised in 1964.

Gunboat
This is the paddle wheel minus the wood paddles of course. It was inside and armored so as to be protected.

Gunboat
in good shape all considered.

Cannon
On the gunboat looking out.

Marker
Some of them are very elaborate and expensive.

Courthouse
as well as museum. Anyrhing you can think of from the war is here.

Courthouse
Me trying to get up there and steal that cannon. Got caught and spent the night in jail. Found out why it's called the "Pokey"

Museum
Coca Cola was invented in Georgis but first bottled right here.

Riverboat
and casino.

Roscoe
The dog that lives at the Coca Cola bottling place. Good little fella. Marilyn liked him.