Blogs from Vicksburg, Mississippi, United States, North America

May 17, Tuesday Jeff Busby campground to Shiloh, Tennessee Had went to bed around 8PM and so woke up around 0300 and could not go back to sleep so just got up around 0430 and headed out. It was unfortunate I left so early since almost at once I started seeing tore up trees alongside the road. The camp host had told me there had been a storm and tornado a few weeks earlier and I believe him. There were literally hundreds of trees that had been uprooted and torn up. Several cut up so it was apparant that they had fallen across the road. This went on for miles. Kind of wish I had left later so I could see them better than what was available to be seen by my headlights. I stopped at ... read more

May 14, 2011 Saturday Decided to stay another day in Vicksburg so went by the office and paid for another day. Did some more reading on Grants Vicksburg campaign and took another look at the map of the battlefield that I had. On my tour of the battlefield I had missed the "Texas Lunette" which is the defensive position that the 2nd Texas volunteers had fought from with some members of Waul's Texas Legion as well. Being from Texas that was of particular interest to me. The Texas troops were used on both sides of the Railway Redoubt with parts of Waul's Legion as the reserve on the South side of the redoubt while the 2nd Texas Volunteer infantry were the main force on the Second Texas Lunette on the North side with some artillery support ... read more

May 12 Thursday Been a long tiring day today. Very hot and humid. Stayed at the Rocky Springs campground off the Natchez Trace about 30 miles southeast of Vicksburg last night. A nice campground and free. Today drove into Vicksburg and checked out the river and some murals on Levee Road alongside the dikes that hold the river back. I was very impressed with the murals. The river is flooding and hopefully next week when it gets at its maximum the murals won't be washed away. Here is a web site on the murals. The one about "Teddy's bear" is my favorite. http://riverfrontmurals.com/ It was very hot and humid today. Traffic was very light. I guess because media coverage of the flood gives the impression that Vicksburg is flooded which is not the case. Some of ... read more

OK, I am late on updating the blog, sorry!! Left Vicksburg driving to Natchez, MS. Arrived at River View RV Resort in Vidalia, La - our site 111 :-). Beautiful RV park located right on the Mississippi river in sight of the bridge. This park is a very well kept, friendly, courteous, and reasonably priced rv park. I highly recommend it to any and all traveling through Natchez, MS / Vidalia, La. (that is for anyone reading the blog and not familiar with Aleta & I. Had a lot of visitors. Tomorrow we get ready for the family reunions!!! Aleta & Shelby T.... read more

The day started in Vicksburg with a stop by the Cedar hill cemetery. We came upon it quite by accident and it was interesting. Cedar Hill Cemetery is one of the oldest and largest cemeteries in the United States that is still in use today. It is also the final resting place for the Confederate Soldiers of the Civil War. A section in the Cedar Hill (Vicksburg City ) Cemetery was set aside to provide a fitting burial place for Confederate soldiers who died of sickness or wounds. Known as "Soldier's Rest," the plot in Cedar Hill Cemetery is the final resting place for an estimated 5,000 Confederate soldiers. Once again we picked up the Great River Road. It's interesting that it's called the Great "River" Road because we saw the Mississippi only once during the ... read more