The Civil War at Vicksburg
You
know you are in the South when you can get grits with your meal at
McDonalds. Really!
Before
heading to the battlefield, we went to the Military Museum on the
riverfront where a retired Navy officer is an expert on the battle.
He showed us a diorama he made of 2500 toy soldiers arranged on a
mockup of the battlefield. It really made the battle more
understandable when we reached the park.
When
I visit historical battlefields I see them with two minds; the mind
of a soldier and the mind of a student of history. The valleys where
the Union soldiers were are green and lush now but I know they were
barren and muddy clay then in May and June 1863. Looking up to the
imposing redoubts, I think of the heat and thirst of the soldiers.
The steep hills ringing Vicksburg became the best natural defenses
the South could have wished for and they had 18 months to make them
even better. Looking down from the top of the defenses, one would
question why any sane person would think you could fight your way up
that hill. When I was a soldier I was always afraid that some medal
happy superior officer would order us to “take that hill.” I
don't know about the medal happy part but that is exactly what the
orders were to the Union infantry, time after time, until thousands
were dead or mangled and Grant finally realized that siege and
starvation were better weapons. Even then attempts by individual
units were made. Charging into massed rifle fire is not my idea of a
smart way to fight a war. It took the Civil War officers too long to
figure that out. The men had figured it out long before the
officers. But as Shelby Foote says it took great courage for the
soldiers to make Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg in the face of the
Union line but to refuse to charge? Nobody's got that much courage.
As
a history student I was thrilled to be on the scene of one of the
pivot points of our nation's history. July 4, 1863 was the day that
Gen. Pemberton surrendered to Grant and Gen. Lee withdrew the
southern forces from Gettysburg. The beginning of the end of the
Civil War.
We
went to Mass at a very nice church, St. Michael's, concealed in the
woods south of town. The priest had a deep Irish accent, hard to
understand him and hard to understand why an Irish priest would be
there. Hiding out?
Dinner
at a local place, Goldie's Trail BBQ. Great bbq pork sandwich for me
and bbq beef for Lisa with ice cream for dessert.
We
have reservations for two nights in New Orleans beginning tomorrow.
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