Day 2 and we’re finally out of Florida and feeling in vacation mode. First order of business, a couple brief stops to score the Welcome to Alabama and Welcome to Mississippi signs (yes, we’re trying to collect all 50 welcome signs and actually have 29 before this little 19 state trip).
Then off to Vicksburg National Military Park before the BLM folks tear down all the Confederate monuments. Here we are at a cannon emplacement along the Union lines (we only take selfies with winners)
Vicksburg is very Gettysburg-esque with monuments placed not only along the battle lines but in the middle of fields and anywhere else some researcher or group felt something significant or interesting happened. Some are more impressive than others such as this shrine to the Illinois troops. There are forty-seven steps, one for each day of the Siege of Vicksburg. The Pantheon-like building has sixty bronze tablets naming all 36,325 Illinois soldiers who participated in the Vicksburg Campaign.
There’s also a restoration/reproduction of the USS Cairo ironclad gunboat. It’s pretty impressive and larger than I was expecting. Would have liked to see the attached museum but the Covids have it shut down.
One of the interesting factoids: It was July 4th, 1863 that confederate General John C. Pemberton surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant and Vicksburg did not celebrate the fourth until 1945!
One more sign stop:
then setting up camp in Hot Springs. 547 miles today, total so far: 1,117.
