Thanksgiving trip part 3

We visited Vicksburg on the way back home. It was awesome. We learned all about the battle at Vicksburg, a key battle and turning point in the civil war. There was a 47 day siege here.

We saw the remains of the USS Cairo, the first ironclad sunk by an electronic mine. We saw a lot of monuments and read a lot of plaques. The boys loved it because basically, they played war all day with all the cannons. We counted 98! The ranger said there were 120+ but since a portion of the park was closed for repairs, we didn't get to see them all. They have preserved most of the dirt build up lines dug by the soldiers, putting trees down to keep the soil from washing away. It is neat to be able to realize that the mounds were used as defenses and to be there on an actual battlefield. The boys earned their Junior Ranger badges too, and will tell you all about the battle of Vicksburg if you want to listen.

Cannons!

Learning about the battles in the visitor center

Pretending to fire cannons

In a tunnel dug by the Union soldiers.

In front of the reconstructed USS Cairo.

Vicksburg National Military Cemetery

Munchkin climbed into this at a cool small local museum

A very awesome reconstructed model of the siege at the small private museum. Tons of cool ship models too.