Crossing the Mississippi River and American History, mid-19th Century

On our outbound journey from Georgia in June (2016) we skipped our planned stop in New Orleans for some tours of historical interest because of all the mechanical issues we had associated with two blow-outs on the trailer.  The days spent on getting repairs done ate up our time we had planned for New Orleans not to mention our desire to "play".  Our destination for today gives us the opportunity to make up for this a little bit.  We are going to call Vicksburg, Mississippi home for the next couple of nights.

We didn't plan it but it is working out that to get to today's destination it fits perfectly within our four hour per day driving window.  We have another private campground picked out because of its convenient location to things we want to do.  Magnolia RV Park Resort will be home for the next couple nights.

And a favorite thing for John is that we get to cross a Mississippi River bridge today.  Not so much for Cyndee.  Essentially all bridges are too narrow, too high and too long for her.  But she does like seeing them from a distance.

Interstate 20 crosses the Mississippi River at Vicksburg, MS

Our chosen RV park for this stopover is Magnolia RV Park Resort.  After our very pleasant experience at Shady Pines in Texarkana we had expectations for Magnolia RV.  After being RV campers for the past fifteen years we should have known better.  And sure enough, it was not what was advertised.  In addition to writing this blog we also write campground reviews on RVParkReviews.com.  Rather than re-hash it, here is an excerpt of our review:

"This is no resort. However it is a an okay RV park. Park owner?/manager was very accommodating and made himself very accessible. To get my Escapees discount the payment for my one night stay was cash only. All sites are packed gravel with a thin strip of grass between you and your neighbor. Your "patio' is your neighbors utility connections. Power was solid with no voltage dips despite the campground being packed full and temperatures above 90 degrees with A/Cs running full blast. Water pressure okay and sewer connection was in good shape. Wifi was good until late evening when everybody was online, their system just couldn't handle all the traffic and connections were dropped and not able to be reaquired. Verizon signal was good for jetpack and voice calls. My site was a very convenient pull through, fairly level with no tree obstructions for satellite. However it was not big enough to hold both my 5th wheel and truck when disconnected. I asked, and got permission, to park my truck perpendicular across the driveway in order not to hang out into the very narrow road in front of me. If a campground in the Vicksburg area was my destination I would probably pick one of the nearby state parks or COE facilities for a multi-night stay or camping experience. But if passing through as I am, this RV park works."

Vicksburg is Old South.  The area has been settled by Native American tribes for thousands of years with the Natchez being the primary tribe since the beginning of recorded history.  The French built a fort in 1719 and conducted trade and fur trapping but by 1729 they were mostly killed out by Natchez raids.  But after allying with the Choctaw, traditional enemies of the Natchez, the French were able to defeat and dispurse the Natchez and their allies, the Yazoo.  Regardless, the French colony never recovered and the Choctaw took over the area by right of conquest and controlled the land for several decades.

A permanent settlement took hold in 1798 and things were pretty copacetic until the American Civil War.  Vicksburg was the epicenter of a battle for control of the Mississippi River, this was the last game piece for the Union to have complete control of the river.  But Vicksburg had a near impenetrable defense atop a high bluff on the river.  So instead of taking on an impossible battle the Union Army laid siege to Vicksburg with the intent to starve them out.  And on July 4, 1863 they achieved their goal after 47 days.  With the surrender of Vicksburg and the defeat of Robert E. Lee at Gettysburg the day before, historically marked this as a turning point in favor of the Union.

The memorial of the siege is what we have come to see.  The National Park System operates the memorial, actually the Vicksburg National Military Park.  

Entrance to the 16 mile driving tail at Vicksburg National Military Park.

This place is pretty big, encompassing 1,325 monuments, 20 miles of historic trenches and earthworks, a 16 mile tour road, and a 12.5 mile walking trail.  We didn't have an endless amount of time so we focused on a few of the more prominent memorials.  One of the first that got us out of the truck was the Illinois Memorial, a large Romanesque structure.

There are 47 steps leading to the Illinois Memorial, one for each day of the siege.

Seal in the floor of the rotunda.

Cyndee gives a little scale to the place.

The Wisconsin Monument also caught our eye.

Lots of action in this bronze sculpture.

Ulysses S. Grant

Recently the park has added an exhibit of the ironclad U.S.S. Cairo.  It was reclaimed from the muddy waters of the Mississippi and what was left after more than a hundred years of being submerged was reassembled in a permanent dry dock on the grounds of the Vicksburg National Military Park.  

U.S.S. Cairo Exhibit

The museum is built into the side of a hill, adjacent to the exhibit.

You can't see it from my pictures, but the exhibit can be entered.  You can go onboard and explore the main deck and look into below-deck areas.

Our home state of Texas has erected monument with bronze statuary.

 As mentioned in previous posts, we have been doing genealogy on both of our families for many years.  As we have developed deeper and deeper connections in each of our blood lines we have been amazed at the similar migratory path our ancestors took as they landed on the east coast and moved west over a century's time.  Not only did our families pass through the same states in the same years, they also lived in the same or adjacent counties.  We keep joking that if we continue our research we might find out that we are cousins.

A prominent figure in Cyndee's line (prominent in regards to there being quite a bit written about him) is her 4X great uncle, Arthur Exum Reynolds, Colonel 26th Miss. Infantry.  He was a commander of a brigade during the Siege of Vicksburg and is one of hundreds that has an individual monument erected in his name.

Much of the historical ground of the siege is outside the National Park boundaries but places are set aside and monuments erected none the less.  Col. Reynolds' monument is one that is on the outside.  We got a map of monuments from the park service and found our way to a road just outside the park boundaries.  Finding the monument was easy, finding a place to park not so much.  But we did find a spot that was almost big enough for the truck and pulled in long enough to walk to the monument and get a couple of pictures.

That's Col. Reynolds' monument in the distance as seen from our parking spot.

Arthur E. Reynolds
Col. 26th Miss. Infantry
Commanding Brigade Loring's Division
Red Granite with Bronze Plaque

Seeing all the history, especially with a family connection, was pretty nice.  But we are heading back to the campground and start preparations for travel on the morrow.