Vicksburg, Mississippi

Being a Civil War buff and history lover, we decided to start the new year with a trip to Vicksburg, Mississippi.  We had a wonderful day touring around the Vicksburg National Military Park.  The battle at Vicksburg was very important because it gave the Union control of the Mississippi river. It was hard victory for Grant.  Each state that had men fighting for both sides put up monuments to honor those men.  Here are pictures of a few of them.

In the park they show were the Union and Confederate lines were located.  The next picture is one of the monument for Grant.

This is a picture of a tunnel that the union forces built under a road to keep the confederates from seeing them across the road.

The next picture is of the Shirley House and the Illinois Memorial.  The Union called the Shirley House the white house.  It is the only surviving wartime structure in the park.  It was the headquarters for the 45th Illinois Infantry.

The next picture is a replica of the house where Lt. Gen. Pemberton signed his surrender papers.

The next pictures are of the ironclad gunboat Cairo that was sunk on the Yazoo River north of Vicksburg. Cairo was the first vessel every sunk by an electrically detonated torpedo.

Vicksburg is such a fascinating area!