Day 22: Vicksburg, MS to Memphis, TN

Driving Dist/ Time: 251 mi./ 3h 47min.

Sights Seen: Vicksburg National Military Park

Sights Missed: Everything else in northern Mississippi (whatever that was...)

We do the Civil War, and we do it often. We've done an entire family vacation in Virginia, a major portion of which was dedicated to the "Lee's Retreat" trail between Petersburg and Appomattox Court House; so the idea of doing an entire vacation without seeing something related to the American Civil War is kind of alien to us. Well, we remedied that today by visiting one of the most crucial victories for the Union during the War - the siege of Vicksburg. The story of the siege is actually quite straightforward. General Ulysses S. Grant led his Army of the Tennessee down through northern Louisiana to capture the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg, MS, which was the last remaining stronghold along the Mississippi River that had not fallen into Union hands. While standing, Vicksburg allowed the Confederate troops to remain supplied as its port and rail connections led deep into the heart of Rebel lands. After Union frontal attacks on the town prooved fruitless, Grant established a siegeline outside of the city until the Confederate troops surrendered on July 3, 1863, 47 days after the siege had first been ordered.

In the many years since the siege, many monuments, memorials, placemarkers, etc... have been been erected to remember those on both sides who fought and died. Two of the most striking monuments were perhaps those from Missouri and Kentucky. The state of Missouri, while a Union state, also fielded a number of Confederate reigments; during the siege, there was one point were both Missouri Union and Confederate regiments directly faced and fought each other. To remember the soldiers from Missouri on both sides, Missouri established a monument to remember this one event. The state of Kentucky erected a monument in honor of both Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, the presidents on both sides of the war, both being born in the state of Kentucky. Perhaps a big fluke in the annals of American history, these two men were born less than 100 miles away from each other, about a year apart, yet led competing sides in a war of ideologies that tore a nation apart. To commemorate both of these men for the honor and courage to stand by their convictions, Kentucky erected its monument.

They say that the Civil War put brother against brother and father against son; nowhere did this seem more clear and evident than today at Vicksburg National Military Park.

States visited to date: 19

National Park Passport cancellations to date: 23