Day 11 - Friday, July 23, 2021

This morning we wanted to visit the Court House Museum before we left Vicksburg.  We arrived just before it's 8:30 AM opening time and found it was already open and we were the first visitors.  Admission for Seniors was $5.50 each.   What a bargain that turned out to be.

I can't begin to show and tell of the many great exhibits the Museum displayed not only about the Civil War but life in Vicksburg, the Confederate States and the culture in the 18th and 19th century.

Below are example of "hand grenades" used during the War between the States.

The actual court room was the only part of the building left as original.  Every other room was filled with displays.

Below is an interesting story of a case tried in the Court House in 1867.

This tee-shirt was on sale in the gift shop.

The drive from Vicksburg to Natchez was easy and pleasant.  We spent about 60 miles on the Natchez Trace which was extremely quiet and pleasant.  

After arriving in Natchez, our first stop was the Visitor Center to get some information, in particular about the old homes which the girls were very interested in seeing.   Our next stop was for some lunch.  We noticed the Pig Out on our way to the Visitor Center and the lady there confirmed it was a good choice.  I ate too much.... again.

Below are a few of the houses we visited on our drive around Natchez.

We had to make a stop at the Cemetery.  It was huge and we spent an hour there.  I noticed graves from the 1800's with people who came from Ireland, Syria, Lebanon, and Italy.  Those I saw without really looking.  Natchez was certainly an international town.

Our hotel for the night - "Natchez Grand Hotel"  located on the river front.

This is the view from the back side of the hotel of the river.

After recovering from the day's activities we went for a walk down the river front to an area called "Under the Hill"

The Blue Cat Club at Under the Hill

Jerry Lee Lewis had his first professional performance here in 1948, at age 13.

Tomorrow we travel to just north of New Orleans, where on Sunday we will travel as far south along the river as possible and then return for two nights in the French Quarter before heading home.

Day 10 - Thursday, July 22, 2021

Today was an easy day of travel.  We covered a little over 200 miles and was Vicksburg National Military Park at 11:30 AM.

Vicksburg National Military Park preserves the site of the American Civil War Battle of Vicksburg, waged from March 29 to July 4, 1863. The park, located in Vicksburg, Mississippi (flanking the Mississippi River), also commemorates the greater Vicksburg Campaign which led up to the battle. Reconstructed forts and trenches evoke memories of the 47-day siege that ended in the surrender of the city. Victory here and at Port Hudson, farther south in Louisiana, gave the Union control of the Mississippi River.

We spent almost 4 hours in the park, and could have stayed longer.  The park includes 1,325 historic monuments and markers, 20 miles of historic trenches and earthworks, a 16-mile tour road, a 12.5-mile  walking trail, two antebellum homes, 144 emplaced cannons, the restored gunboat USS Cairo (sunk on December 12, 1862, on the Yazoo River), and the Grant's Canal site, where the Union Army attempted to build a canal to let their ships bypass Confederate artillery fire.

There is no way to properly convey the battlefield in a short blog post, but I will include a few photos.

The Shirley House is the only house which survived the battle.

The Illinois State Monument is one of the most impressive.  It has 47 steps, one for every day Vicksburg was besieged.

The Cairo, one of 7 shallow-bottom river iron boats built by the Union was commissioned in 1862 and sank in 1862.  It was not until 1964 that it's pieces were dredged from the Yazoo river.

More monuments. 

An act by Congress was passed in the late 1800's which allowed any state who fought in the battle at Vicksburg to place a monument.  The northern states were fast to begin erecting monuments, some quite elaborate.  The southern states, still recovering from their devastating economic losses were much slower and generally erected much more modest monuments.

Georgia's monument - pretty modest...

By 3:30 we were famished and started looking for somewhere to eat.  Google again came through!  We found Tony's Grill...

Lots of atmosphere...

Kay got shrimp and I had oysters and we shared.  

Carl also had shrimp and Janet the catfish.  We all agreed it was excellent.

After checking into our hotel, we went downtown to explore.  There is a great levy wall with murals.

The old courthouse which is now a museum.  We plan to visit tomorrow.

During our walk we met and talked with several people, some local and others visitors like ourselves.  Overall it was a great day.  

Day 9, Wednesday, July 21 2021

Again, I don't plan a lot of commentary, just photos.  Our plans today were to travel to Helena, Arkansas to spend the night.  We really didn't know anything about Helena or the area, but it proved to have some interesting history.  About 30 miles above Helena we encountered The Mississippi River State Park located in St. Francis National Forrest.  It is one of the smallest National Forrest but was really nice.  

They had a great visitor-information center.  There was a short hiking trail (.5 miles) near the visitor center and we spent a few minutes relaxing on the trail and met an older gentleman fishing.

With the information we gained at the Visitor Center, we sought out Bear Creek Loop trail.  This loop was one mile and made for a nice hike through the Arkansas forest.

 

By the time we reached Helena, we were ready for lunch.  Downtown (which was practically deserted) we found The Helena Tavern.  It was 1:30 and it closed at 2:00.  Fortunately we were able to get in.  There was only one other party inside and the (apparent) manager took care of us.  Kay and I both had fried catfish and fries, hushpuppies and slaw.  It was fantastic.  Carl and Janet shared a pizza which was also good.

 

I don't know, but I bet this place rocks on the weekend!  One of Helena's claims to fame is hosting the King Biscuit Blues Festival each year.

Helena is rich is Civil War History.  I'll let Wikipedia tell you about it:

The municipality traces its historical roots to the founding of the port town of Helena on the Mississippi River by European Americans in 1833. As the county seat, Helena was the center of a prosperous cotton plantation region in the antebellum years. Helena was occupied by the Union Army early in the American Civil War. The city was the site of the Battle of Helena fought in 1863. Confederate forces unsuccessfully tried to expel Union forces from Helena in order to help relieve pressure on the strategic river town of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Later in the year, Helena served as the launching point for the Union Army in the capture of Little Rock, the state capital.

We visited the Confederate Cemetery, which was not easy to find.  There are seven Confederate Army Generals buried here.

Our last stop was at the small roadside Freedom Park.  It tell the story of how many escaped and freed slaves made their way to Helena .  The slaves as they were being freed by the Union army during the Civil War were called Contraband by the Union officers and soldiers. The freed slaves in Helena, Arkansas in 1863 were settled in tents and rough hewn log cabins and were built on the site of the newly finished Freedom Park of Helena.  Many of the slaves joined the Union Army.  Helena was never captured by the Confederate Army.

We are looking forward to spending time in Vicksburg tomorrow and continue our study of the Civil war in this important area.