We survived last night on "breezy point" without the need for any locals to attempt to explain how we were the only ones caught in the open next to the lake. it was actually close. The wind blew hard all night long with sustained wind reported as up to 25 mph and gusts to 33. Not quite a threat to blow us away, but enough to keep us rockin'.
All that wind and the rain that sometimes accompanied it was caused by a system of warm, moist air from the south (in Florida we call that "normal") colliding with cold, dry air coming from the northwest. Remember, it had been 99 degrees on Thursday as we passed through Ocala. Even in Hattiesburg last night the overnight low was 73. And I'll report it was a wet 73. On the other side of the point of collision of these air masses it was probably 20 degrees colder. Well, the point of collision moved today. First through Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Missouri then directly over us as we pressed northwest from Hattiesburg toward Vicksburg. For us it was rainy with some strong winds. For other folks it produced tornadoes and flash floods with property damage and loss of life.
I was hoping to get some good sunrise pics including the lake. There was a touch of color in the sky at 6:15 AM so I suited up and headed out. By the time I was set up at about 6:18 it was over. Solid overcast. Not enough sun poking through to even tell where east was. Gray. So, the crummy overcast shots from last night are all I got of Geiger Lake. Except for this. At about 7:00 two proud families of geese with goslings came out. One pair let their young 'uns graze in the area between our trailer door and the lake. I took advantage of the sliding panel in the door to take a few pics. Here's a look at a sign of spring in Mississippi:
So we used a spot where the rain had slowed to stow the outside gear and hit the road. Next stop the National Military Park at Vicksburg, Mississippi. When we arrived I went to the information desk to ask for a map. A lady still wearing the Smokey the Bear hat from her Halloween costume smiled, handed me a map and said "I'm sorry, sir. The battlefield road is currently closed since the storms this morning knocked trees onto the road and they are not yet cleared". Hmmmm. maybe the one day in my life I'm in Vicksburg... scene one of the most famous and decisive battles of the Civil War... and it's closed. It was lunchtime, so we made a plate in the trailer in the visitor's center parking lot. Miraculously, the road was open when we finished eating, so off we went!
Vicksburg was destined by geography to be a battleground of the Civil War. Both sides depended on the Mississippi to move goods including natural resources (like food and timber) down river and supplies up river. Even then, the Mississippi and its tributaries allowed navigation into the south (Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia) and the north (Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania). Geographically, Vicksburg sits on the east bank of the river overlooking a full 180 degree turn in the river with steep slopes rising from the river for several hundred vertical feet. The town had about 6,000 population at the time and, being in Mississippi it was Confederate. Both sides knew that control of the Mississippi had military consequences. It also had political, since farmers and manufacturers on both sides would grow impatient if the use of the river was denied to them. The Confederates installed large artillery to allow them to stop ships with precisely targeted, practiced shots as they made the turn in the river below the town. Southern ships had full use of the river. Northern ships had none. Lincoln ordered General Ulysses S Grant to devise a plan and implement it to restore use of the river to the Union. Doing that involved disabling or capturing the artillery.
The Confederates, naturally knew this was coming. By the time the battle was ready to commence in 1863 the Confederates had 30,000 soldiers in Vicksburg and had created rows of protection including field artillery (smaller cannon) and trenches to engage an approaching enemy army and repel them. Those defenses were put to the test in April, 1863 as Grant's men approached the town after trying and failing for 6 months. The result was a standoff along rows of trenches approximately 5 miles in length and forming the shape of the number "7" with the town bordered by the trenches to the north and east and the river to the west. Rather than engaging in endless assaults until the defenses broke, Grant managed to gain control of the river to the north and south of Vicksburg and the Louisiana shore across the river. He surrounded the entrenched defenders and waited them out as food, water and supplies were consumed in the isolated town by the townspeople and their protectors. It took about 6 weeks and included daily cannon bombardment to demoralize the entrapped southerners and speed their surrender. Losses were significant as the placement of over 1,400 monuments on the battlefield can attest. However, the losses were not as significant as they would have been in an all out assault.
So, Grant won the day. Having control of the entire Mississippi was a huge boost for the Union. Grant became the General in command of the entire Union Army and rode final victory to the White House. It couldn't have happened without the opportunity and victory handed to him in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
The battlefield itself is difficult to comprehend in individual photographs. It is criss-crossed by ridges and ravines which were ideal for trenches, tunnels and snipers. It is densely forested and the remains of the battlements are still visible in places. However, I did get one shot that shows were the large guns could see the bend in the river (which has meandered and moved quite a bit since 1863 as the river continuously carves new paths through the silts and sands of the Mississippi valley flood plain. Here's a view that some gunner or lookout may have had before the Union Army deprived him of it:
Note that the cloth roof in the foreground is a canopy roof for the exhibit of the ironclad USS Cairo (pronounced like the city in Illinois or the syrup, not the city in Egypt). It was used to by the Union in the efforts to reach Vicksburg in the months before the battle and was lost to a Confederate mine. It was located and recovered in the 1950s. Here's what Cairo looked like in her day and what's under that tent today.
So, that's it for tonight. Long and interesting day with another discovery here in Delhi that I'm too tired to recount tonight. I'll save it for tomorrow. We'll press west again tomorrow to Tyler, Texas, east of the Dallas metroplex. Tuesday is our first day off the road since the trip started. We'll have tome to relax, resupply a bit and explore Tyler.
Until tomorrow!
SC'
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