Vicksburg and Roadside Beauty in Mississippi

My last post was full of tormented self-doubt, recollections of terrible crimes, and worry about the state.  Yesterday I had to relax and enjoy the drive down Highway 61 from Greenville to Natchez, with some very interesting stops along the way.

First of all, we went to Vicksburg.  It was on the way here, while driving down a random side street trying to find the friends of Bill W, that I saw this very odd and beautiful piece of folk art.

My favorite slogan was "God have no white church and he don't have no black church."  There were others, but many were fading and I couldn't read them.  It turns out this was a "theological park," much like the Garden of Eden in Kansas or Salvation Mountain in southern California.  It was built by Rev. Dennis, who passed away in 2012, but you can read more about him and "Margaret's Grocery," as it's called, read about Margaret's grocery here if you are interested.

The countryside was incredibly lush, green, and very low.  We were driving at sea level, through rice fields and cotton fields, just starting to sprout.  

We arrived in Vicksburg after a torrential rain, with more forecast to come, so I was worried we wouldn't be able to visit the site of one of the most important battles of the Civil War, one which changed the course of the war for good, putting "the key" to unlocking the victory in Abe Lincoln's pocket.  But we were in luck; the weather broke and we had a couple of hours of sunbreaks before another downpour, in which we visited the battlefield at Vicksburg and learned about the siege, the Union victory, and the aftermath.  A little stop in the gift shop was enough to remember where we were.

 Souvenirs, anyone?

The battle of Vicksburg actually was a huge series of battles that took place over many months.  Vicksburg was like a fortress, perched high above the Mississippi, the last place the Union needed to take in order to cut off Confederate supply lines and basically split the Confederacy in half.  Grant came up with a daring plan to march his troops around behind (I thought this was interesting because it was Van Dorn's strategy at Pea Ridge, but in a more massive way), while trying to get supply ships through the blockade at the town.  He succeeded at both of these, and his Union troops got closer and closer.  They made it all the way to Jackson, and then from Jackson came back west, crushing the Confederate armies in a couple of battles along that road.  Coming from the west were a whole bunch of other Union troops, led by General Sherman, the famous one who later marched across the South to the sea.  With him was a regiment of African-American soldiers from Massachusetts, the first one to ever see combat.  They joined a handful of Iowans and successfully held off the enemy at the little-known battle of Milliken's Bend, which is a bend on the Mississppi river kind of north of Vicksburg.  They were so successful that Lincoln realized they should recruit a ton more black soldiers.  After Vicksburg was taken by the Union, over 30,000 more African American troops joined the Union army; many were slaves who had been liberated at Vicksburg and other places, or enslaved people who fled to Vicksburg immediately after the victory.

There was one period when, after repeated attempts to take the city, Grant just waited for 47 days, while the Confederate army and people in the city sat there starving or getting dysentery, dodging the artillery that they shot in on a regular basis.  After a few more assaults, the main Confederate general, Pemberton, surrendered.  I guess he knew it was pointless, and that they were bound for defeat, and in surrendering he actually saved the lives of probably thousands of his soldiers, but he had to retire in disgrace nonetheless.  The surrender took place on July 4th, 1863, which meant that for African Americans in Vicksburg, July 4th had a very special significance, while white citizens of Vicksburg didn't celebrate Independence day for quite a long time.  

The North used Vicksburg as its headquarters on the Mississippi after that.  Sherman used it to gather everything he needed for his crushing march to the sea, destroying everything in his path (according to legend).  It was governed by 3000 black military police.  White citizens had curfews and other restrictions, while African Americans, formerly enslaved, had schools, professional training, and other opportunities they had never enjoyed.  The city of Vicksburg was one of the model cities for Reconstruction, and until 1877 when the federal troops were removed, it was amazingly different.  Of course, white southerners generally didn't think it was that great.  There are over 1300 separate monuments on the Vicksburg battlefield.  But guess when the monument to the African American regiments was erected?  Okay, there was one there initially, but it was melted down during World War II, as were some other monuments, but of course those were rebuilt as soon as possible.  Did you guess?  2004 was when it was dedicated.  The old film they used to show in the NPS visitor center didn't even mention the really important role that these black soldiers played. The new one, however, does a great job, and they even have a life-sized diorama (you know how much I love those) in the museum area.

There were so many monuments/memorials to so many people and regiments that after a while, driving the 16 mile path, they all blended together.  Of course, Matt liked the big Michigan one, and I noticed how many Iowa monuments there were,but this one, which was for Illinois, was by far the grandest and most impressive.  It was like a mini version of the Jefferson memorial, with a perfect dome and oculus, the beautiful Greek temple style facade, the noble symmetry...very lovely.  The battlefield itself still had some of the earthen trenches dug by the Union soldiers as well as the old berms (Matt had to teach me that word) that the Vicksburg defenders dug.

After Vicksburg, we drove down the river road again, and saw some really cool architecture in a little town called Port Gibson.  Legend has it that Grant deemed the town "Too beautiful to burn," and that's what it says on the sign as you come in. But you know when people say "Legend has it" or "It is said that" it usually means they made it up for fun or tourist interest.

Still, this is the synagogue in the town.  It is called Gemiluth Chassed, and is a sort of Romanesque-Byzantine style, built in the 1890s.  So that was after Grant.  This is a story for my next post, but after Reconstruction, when a lot of the old ritzy southern plantation owners lost their homes, Jews came in and made a killing, often actually saving the buildings, the businesses and the towns themselves.  And of course they built beautiful Synagogues that still stand today.  I really wanted to go inside but there was nobody there and by this time the rain had started again.  We then drove down a little back way and found these mysterious and beautiful ruins.  They are called the ruins of Windsor, which was the largest plantation home ever, but burned down in 1890 AFTER the war, when (according to legend) a careless smoker left a cigar burning and the entire place was gone in a jiffy, except for these columns and some wrought-iron railings.  The clearing is very silent and mysterious (there is a scene from some Liz Taylor movie that was filmed here), and haunting.

For you teachers and students, here's a link to a handout about the ruins that you can print and give to you class:

ruins of Windsor handout.  

So for today, anyway, we were just rambling down little backroads, making our way to Natchez, finding odd and beautiful places by the side of the highway.  This vision of Mississippi was pretty captivating.