Mississippi

It was hilarious when a waitress in Mississippi said to us (veeeery slowly and with such a true Southern drawl!) "I like the way y'all talk" :-) the accents down here are awesome! We have both successfully modified our speech to S-L-O-W so that we are understood and so far we haven't encountered any problems.

Mississippi was a real education on the Civil War - we spent a lot of time at Vicksburg, which was the site of a pivotal battle in mid 1863 as the Union (north) was trying to take control of the Mississippi River (a lifeline for the South, and therefore the Confederates). It was the last remaining city on the river to fall to the Union, and this was only after a 47 day siege. We'll hit more Civil War 'stuff' when we are a bit further north and east.




Well, not quite like going home, but pretty cool to be in Mississippi!




Vicksburg National Military Park - the cannons are on the Union side and you can see the Confederate trenches beyond the Union's.

The USS Cairo - a Union gunboat that was sunk by the Confederates in Dec 1862 just near Vicksburg, and before the town was captured. It was raised in 1964, and it was amazing to see the relics that came up with the boat.

View of the Mississippi from the Vicksburg Cemetery - 17,000 Union soldiers are buried there, 13,000 of them are unknown with just numbers on the grave markers.

That Great Mississippi River