Since our motorhome refrigerator wasn't actually fixed in Red Bay, AL we had to schedule another repair down the road. Bill has always wanted to see the Vicksburg Civil War battlefields so we had the refrigerator manufacturer send the part to an approved repairman in Vicksburg. The plan was to arrive in Vicksburg on Thursday and have the weekend to see the sites and then have repairs done on Monday. For once the plan went flawlessly. We choose to stay at Ameristar RV park which has full hookups at a very reasonable price. Ameristar is one of the largest Casino/Hotel operations on the Mississippi River. We felt obliged to go to the dinner buffet at the casino on Friday late afternoon. It was a bit pricey for us but the food was very good.
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Ameristar Casino on Mississippi River in Vicksburg, MS
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On Saturday morning we left early to visit the Civil War battlefield. As some of you might know the siege/battle for Vicksburg began in the Fall of 1862. The North believed Vicksburg was the key to defeating the South and the South had committed all resources to defending their hold on Vicksburg. The city is situated on a bluff over looking the Mississippi River and as such the Southern forces had dug in along the ridge with a commanding view of the river. With artillery emplacements on the ridge, the South controlled who could go up and down the river. So when the Northern forces began their 1st attempt to take Vicksburg they wanted to transport troops down the Mississippi past Vicksburg so they could cutoff any attempt by the South to bring supplies up from Louisiana.
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| View from Southern Artillery emplacement along Mississippi River on South end of Vicksburg |
Needless to say the South denied the North passage and the attack was thwarted. Eventually, after many attempts to get Northern forces south of Vicksburg the Northern forces succeeded by shear will. After numerous attacks by the North, all of which were repelled by the well entrenched South, the North took on a siege of Vicksburg and eventually the South surrendered Vicksburg on 4 July 1863.
One of the most interesting things about the Vicksburg' 'battlefield' is that it is not some wide open battlefield in the middle of no where, but it is a diverse terrain all within the city itself. The National Park Service has attempted to preserve this battlefield in honor to those who fought and died there.
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One of the North's artillery emplacements pointing at the South's headquarters area
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Each of the state monuments located in the battlefield is built where troops from those states were located during the battles and eventual siege. As of July 2012, all the states which had troops in the battle have erected their monuments. It is truly an impressive visit. Here are just a few pictures of some of the monuments.
As I stated earlier, one aspect of this battle was naval. In December of 1862 the northern gun boat USS Cairo hit a mine in the Yazoo river just north of Vicksburg and swiftly sank. In 1956 the Cairo was found but not until 1965 was there an attempt to recover it. The Cairo Museum at the Vicksburg battlefield documents the recovery as well as all the relics found.
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Model of the USS Cairo
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When the Cairo was hit by the mine there was time for all aboard to abandon ship without any loss of life. The Cairo was quickly covered with mud, silt and sand and preserved contents of the ship just as they were in 1862. While the ship itself decayed it is still quite impressive.
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| Bow of the USS Cairo |
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| Stern with a small view of Paddle Wheel housing rear left |
After a full day of site seeing we were ready for a good meal and a quite evening. On Monday, the refrigerator repairman came with the new part which had arrived on schedule and finalized the repairs. That finished our time in Vicksburg and we left on Tuesday heading for Dallas, TX.
