Vicksburg
December 24, 2025
We’re just leaving Vicksburg, which has created a first on the trip. We’re actually cruising in daylight for the first time on the trip, at least when I was awake. Partly because the river was low, we could not dock near downtown but we’re a half hour drive away, limiting sightseeing. I chose to take a shuttle to the city and thus for another first, saw no mansions.
For me, one bucket list item was the battlefield. The park has a 14-mile drive that we took with a ranger. The road traverses Union and Confederate lines, recreating the 47-day siege that resulted in a Confederate surrender on July 4,1863 that, coinciding with Gettysburg put the key in our pocket said Lincoln and opened the Mississippi to Union tra
de. The site encompasses tunnels, trenches, and features tightening the noose to the point of starving the rebs. The loess soil is easy to dig in and soldiers were said to be armed with a rifle and shovel.
The victory made Grant a hero and demonstrated his persistence. The efforts to take the city lasted several months and several plans. Almost 40000 Illinoisans, half the troops there, supported Grant, as did almost 10000 Wisconsonians. About fifty years later, states erected monument to troops. Illinois monument was under 
repair, but had 47 steps, one for each day, and the names of each soldier. Missouri’s had 42 steps, 25 for the 
Missourians who fought for the Union, 17 for its Confederate regiments. Another highlight was a recovered armored gunship, part of the brown water navy. It was torpedoed in the Yazoo River and well preserved.
I took a shuttle into town and was glad I did. One small museum was in a converted pharmacy whose owner worked with coca cola as the first bottler. Until then the drink was sold on premise. The cap went pop when pulled off, hence soda pop (called pop in Chicago, soda downstate). The civil war museum is the brainchild of an Afro American with a focus on blacks in the w
ar, which had great displays and conversations with the owner. The red cloak was for the grand master of the Klu Klux Klan.
And so it becomes the night before Christmas and I wish you all a merry one