A Visit to 1863

Yesterday, we visited Vicksburg. Vicksburg, Mississippi has the distinction of being the site of the battle that most historians attribute to being the beginning of the end for the South during the Civil War. After Vicksburg was taken by U.S. Grant, Commander of the Tennessee Army, the South had no tactical chance to win the war. The reason, of course, was that Vicksburg, sitting on high bluffs, controlled what moved up and down the Mississippi River. It was the supply artery of the Southern Army.

This battle was fought from mid May until July 4th 1863 when General Pemberton, Confederate Commander at Vicksburg, surrendered to Grant. He was not defeated, so much as starved out. As it was, 20,000 soldiers died at Vicksburg - mostly Union troops. There are 17,000 of them buried in the cemetery that is part of the national park commemorating and explaining the battle. (13,000 of those buried are in nameless graves - I guess the result of having to get bodies underground ASAP in the wicked heat.)

Our visit coincides with the 147th anniversary of the battle, and we watched a troop of re-enactors load and fire a small artillery piece. I'm sure this must have looked like a great summer job in November, but in the June heat, this guy was sweating profusely in his authentic butternut uniform. They actually primed and fired this piece of artillery, and it was LOUD. As you do the driving tour of the park, there are hundreds of artillery implacements. It wasn't hard to imagine the soldiers eating, sleeping and firing their artillery pieces day and night. The Union Army rained cannon balls not only on the soldiers, but also right into Vicksburg driving the remaining civilian population to dig underground caves and live in them most of the time except when venturing out to forage for food and water. The Confederates, from the high ground, rained cannon balls down on the Union troops forcing them into trenches. Union soldiers (after the first disasterous charges) fought with shovels as much as with guns as they dug trenches, build gun implacements, and tried tunneling under the Confederate lines.

There are intricate lines of trenches in zig-zag patterns (for less damage from the pesky cannon balls) that are still visible today 147 years later. You can see the earthen hills built with the soil dug out of the trenches that gun implacements sat on. And there are monuments everywhere. It's hard to imagine how close the front lines were in this battle until you see the map and drive down the Union lines, turn about 200 yards and drive up the Confederate lines. The small lighted area in the map shows the site of the battle. In some places the battle lines were 15 feet apart. Not only were cannon balls raining down, there were sharp shooters from both sides picking off unlucky soldiers who showed their heads at just the wrong moment. And, of course, the great killer on both sides - sickness including maleria and dysentery. The Confederates also had to contend with hunger. Grant realized after two disasterous 'charges' (read slaughter) that he wasn't simply going to be able to overrun the Vicksburg fortifications. He settled down into a siege, and that ultimately won the day.

As you drive the battle lines, there are approximately 1300 monuments from at least 20 states that were represented in this battle. Some of the prominent are Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Texas. The monuments are plaques, busts, bronze statues, obelisks, and even temples to the dead. Vicksburg has other distinctions - this is the first battle the Union used African American troops who fought so fiercely they gained the respect of the Southerners fighting against them. Vicksburg also became the model for re-construction - freeing the slaves, creating a freed black police force to patrol the city, curtailing the rights of white southerners, and sending freed slaves back to the fields earning a wage - thus foretelling the share crop system of Southern agriculture that persisted until well into the 1950's.

This battle now seems not so much awe inspiring as tragic. It's a sad place still. So many graves. The battle plan is easily understandable, so the focus, thanks to all the monuments with so many names, centers on the soldiers (both sides) who died here. Many died because commanders used 18th century battle tactics against vastly improved artillery. Beginning with the Civil War, thanks to the growing industrialization, cannons were in all sizes, made of superior material that could fire longer and more rapidly and much more accurately. Lines of infantry charging/marching toward a fortified position were cannon fodder.

This is a place that makes the reality of the Civil War come alive. It reminded me of the cost of war, no matter the glorious cause - and both sides in any war always fight on the intellectual plane for a glorious cause - and the immense sacrifice. As I passed by the thousands of names, I could picture the parents, the sweethearts, the siblings who just knew their boy was dead - and buried 'somewhere'. Vicksburg is also a living picture that the cost of war is not only in lives, but there is a terrible cost to the land. This tree was the most striking example of the damage that cannon balls do to the landscape. This is definitely a 'must visit' place. It's rich in history, beauty, tragedy, heroism, sacrifice, and provokes thoughtful reflection on what being 'at war' really means not only to the soldiers who fight it, but to a society.