Day 17: Vicksburg

We spent most of the day in Vicksburg. The Vicksburg National Military Park was awesome. If you've ever been to a large Civil War battlefield, you know that all of the states with soldiers who fought there will put up a large monument as well as many smaller ones at the spot of any major action during that battle. The large monuments are incredible. The Illinois monument was the largest at this site and was modeled after the Parthenon. It was beautiful. You could actually go inside, and this seal was on the floor. I took this picture since I am originally from Illinois.




The state of Kentucky dedicated its monument in 2001. It is pretty neat. Both Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln were born in Kentucky. So statues of both of them are part of the monument (along with a few other people???).


The cemetery in the park contains the gravesites of the Union soldiers who died at Vicksburg. Interestingly, the Confederate soldiers were buried at a private cemetery in the town. There are both flat and tall markers. The flat stones mark the graves of unknown soldiers.



This picture was taken from Fort Hill, which was such a formidable Confederate stronghold, that the Union forces never attacked it. The scenery throughout the park--hills and valleys and trees--was so beautiful!


The park also contains the U.S.S. Cairo Museum. The U.S.S. Cairo was a Union ironclad ship which was the first ship ever sunk by an explosive mine. It was resurrected from its watery grave exactly 102 years, to the day, from when it was sunk. You can walk right onto this ship. It is incredible!




There were some nice picnic tables outside this museum where we ate lunch.


Before leaving Vicksburg, we drove a mile or two to the Beidenharn Coke Museum (I hope I spelled that correctly). This was the first place ever to bottle Coke. Yes, it was first made in Atlanta, but Mr. Beidenharn, a candy shop owner, had the idea of bottling it. When he asked for permission, the Coke company gave it to him thinking that it was a hairbrained idea. Before too long, they realized their mistake. However, it took them a long time and a LOT of money to buy the bottling rights back! Ah, the power of a good idea!

Gerren and Chase look at the machine that bottled the Coke.


The boys pose in front of a 1902 soda fountain.


Carys "smiles" in front of the high chair.


There wasn't much to this museum, but it was a fun diversion. After leaving Vicksburg, we drove 4 hours to Daphne, AL, right outside of Mobile. We had dinner at a great place called Baumhower's Wings. There are 7 of these restaurants all over Alabama, and it was wonderful!

Well, it is hard to believe, but we are headed home tomorrow. We have a 6-hour drive ahead of us, not including stops. We also lose an hour going from Central to Eastern Time, but we hope to get back in time for Landon to go to Civil Air Patrol at 6:30pm. This blog will be awfully silent when I get home and have to catch up on everything! LOL!