We spent most of our day in Vicksburg National Military Park. It’s a huge park forming the northern and northeastern borders of the city. The park preserves much of the landscape and earthen fortifications around which the Confederate and Union troops clashed during the seige of the city.
The Shirley House viewed from the Illinois Monument.
The strange thing about battlefield parks is how lovely they are: rolling, grassy expanses interspersed with elegant, mature trees and stone monuments. It almost makes you think it was always this way. You have to remind yourself that while the basic topography is preserved the view in 1863 was quite different: muddier, more strewn with debris, louder, the air charged with nervous, fearful energy — and all of that before the battles.
A relief from the Missouri Monument.
A tunnel built by Union soldiers as part of their efforts to assault the ridge in the distance.
The USS Cairo, the first ship ever sunk by an electrically detonated mine. Recovered from the Yazoo River.
I was last here when I was 10. We had come down to celebrate my great grandmother’s 100th birthday then. I am 90 years younger than her less two days. Nearly half of my mom’s family was from Vicksburg and many lived on or near Fort Hill. We drove down the Hill from the park side, but I couldn’t quite remember the houses. My great grandmother’s house has since burned down (it was on a nearby road too). When I visited it at age 3, her youngest son lived there and I stood on a fire ant mound. I discovered this by the frenzy of ants climbing up my legs and biting me. Nothing preserves memory like a trauma!
There are almost no relatives left in Vicksburg, and I hadn’t been here since the casinos arrived. This makes the place seem a little forlorn. Shelby Foote, among his lauded writings about the Civil War, wrote a book on the siege of Vicksburg titled, The Beleaguered City (also the name of a Longfellow poem). It feels that way to me now. Even the Mississippi River avoided the city after the end of the Civil War. It changed course in 1876 and now only touches the southwest corner.
This cannon was mounted to protect the city from invading casinos. Alas, to no avail.
There is a nice town center and many historical buildings, some well preserved, some in desperate need of preservation. It’s too bad a real industry hasn’t established itself here. I would love to see this city experience a true renaissance. Unfortunately, gambling is such a blood sucker industry. Just as lumber is a key ancillary industry to homebuilding, gambling’s key ancillary industry is pawn shops. We saw more than a few. We saw a billboard (for a Shreveport, LA casino, I think) that said it was voted the luckiest casino in the state. At the bottom it had a number to call if you are a gambling addict. What number do you call if you want a big, cosmic boot to come down and punt all the casinos into the Gulf of Mexico?
Darn! We coulda stayed here!
November 27, 2007
