Vicksburg, MS

Vicksburg National Military park in 1863. Credit: http://www.riverfrontmurals.com

Our last stop will be Vicksburg, Mississippi. “It sometimes seems the Civil War in the West was focused on Vicksburg. The Union efforts to take the Confederate-held Mississippi River bastion took months of maneuvering and thousands of lives on both sides. The drama finally ended July 4, 1863, with the city’s surrender” (Civil War Traveler). I decided that for our ending location we needed to go out with a bang, so I booked us for two days in Vicksburg with tons of activities lined up. Day one in Vicksburg we will start with another museum and battlefield. The Vicksburg Battlefield Museum offers seven exciting exhibits: Fall of Vicksburg Battlefield Diorama, Civil War gunboats, documentary siege presentation, and more. Then we shall trot on over to Lookout mountain to see the view the Confederates had. 

Credit: http://hiking-cyclingchristian.net

Our second day in Vicksburg will be extremely relaxing. We have all morning and afternoon to do as we please since the next day we have a nine-hour drive back to Texas. I have some monuments I’d like to check out, but the real event of the day happens around 7p.m. We will be taking a ghost tour through the Vicksburg National Park where heavy Civil War battles occurred. Vicksburg is considered one of the most haunted towns in America because of significant Civil War campaigns, one of the largest Civil War Cemeteries, and was on route for the Trail of Tears. While neither Whitney nor I are big believers in the supernatural we are hoping we will be proved wrong!

 

The main reason I decided to stay two days in Vicksburg was because I wanted to go on the Ghost tour. I don’t technically believe in ghosts, but I think it will be a great time to pay my respects to these men that fought so bravely for a cause that moved them to bring about the deadliest war on American Soil. In Vicksburg I will be completely focused on the reality of death has affected my present day life and maybe spurred on some fantasies about the South.