Vacation-Mississippi

 We left Crater of Diamonds after lunch and headed to our next destination.

Vicksburg, Mississippi.

After a couple of hours of more windy, Arkansas backroads we crossed the state line into Louisiana.

We had been in the car for a while, it was late afternoon, and I looked ahead on our app for a spot to stop for milkshakes.  Chick Fil A wasn't too far away so we headed there.

We were in West Monroe Louisiana for all you Duck Dynasty fans.  Didn't see Phil, Sy, or any other members of their family but weren't really looking for them either.  (And the town is much larger than we had expected.)

It seemed to be a pattern for us-roll into town around dinner time, dump our bags at hotel, clean up, then find some (hopefully local) food.  That night in Vicksburg we had delicious creole.  Took us a few attempts to find the restaurant, but it was worth the search.  It was also all-you-can-eat crawdad night and we got to see a local fella throw down on those little crustaceans.  When we left he was on platter number four.

After our usual breakfast & loading of the car, we headed to check out the National Battlefield from the Battle of Vicksburg.

Did you know that the city of Vicksburg received most of it's revenue from riverboat trade?  They voted to side with the Union forces at the opening of the Civil War, and the city was forced to endure a month long siege from the Union.  During the siege many families dugout "caves" in the cliffs near the river and moved into the underground bunkers until the Confederacy finally surrendered.

Looking out over the large encampment area.

The signs are all clearly marked around the loop road and are very helpful in showing where different states had their soldiers stationed (Union troops labeled with blue signs and Confederate troops with red).

In the evenings across the rolling bunkers the opposing troops would sing together and share jokes before fighting again the following day.

The loop road takes you down to the graveyard section and it is sobering.

Rows, and rows of grave markers down a rolling hillside.

None of us took any pictures.

Not far from the graveyard was a salvaged gunboat pulled from the river.

It was a toasty way to spend the morning but I'm glad we went.

It's easy to learn about things in textbooks, but to see the place where they actually occurred has more of an impact.  The Civil Was was not a pretty moment in our country's history but it is an essential part that can't be ignored or forgotten.