Vicksburg National Military Park -- Vicksburg, Mississippi

For our final ride of our trip we drove Sunday night and stayed in Vicksburg, Mississippi. We chose to stay at a nice little bed and breakfast. The Baer House Inn(http://www.baerhouseinn.ms/ )

We planned to get up on Monday morning and ride through the Vicksburg National Military Park( http://www.nps.gov/vick/index.htm ).

I chose this because I have had a long time interest in the civil war battle fought there.  Recently I have been reading Grant's memoir and he talked a lot about this battle.   Really had not considered that the battlefield was pretty much fought on the bluffs surrounding Vicksburg so we were in for quite a hilly ride!

Large Monument you passed through to start the tour of the park. A very short downhill which lead into a big UP Hill!




The tour started on Union Ave which followed the Union lines around the park.

Throughout the park there were many monuments to individuals and state regiments who fought bravely in the battle.

Catching our breath having just climbed a hill with a grade we don't come across often on our rides around Kansas.  Check out the elevation changes in the Mapmyride map further down in this post.

One of many cannons strategically placed throughout the park to indicate areas where during the battle likely each side had placed them.

The state of Illinois clearly had the most monuments throughout the park including the large one you can see up at the top of the hill.   Grant put a lot of faith in the boys from his home state and they ultimately showed they were up to the task. 

 

 A neat display they had was the USS Cairo(http://www.nps.gov/vick/u-s-s-cairo-gunboat.htm).  The Cairo was one of seven ironclads that patrolled the waters of the upper Mississippi during the civil war. 

The ship was the first boat in American history sunk by an electronic torpedo in 1863.  It was located in 1953 and found to be very well preserved so was raised and is now on display. 

We also found a small monument for Kansans that fought in the battle so we had to take a picture.