Last full day of vacation and we packed it full. We started the day in Vicksburg exploring the National Park and Battlefield.

Vicksburg, like Gettysburg (and probably many other battles), was a turning point in the Civil War. The control of the Mississippi River was central to the Battle of Vicksburg… If Vicksburg went to the Union, the Confederate States would be cut in half and cut off from supplies. The battle began on May 18, 1863. Conditions were harsh with the heat, and food and supplies running out. On the plaques listing the soldiers’ names, you could watch the divisions shrinking as soldiers were killed and unable to be replaced. By the end of the battle, a letter signed by “Many Soldiers” was slipped under the door of the commanding officer of the Confederacy and said “If you can’t feed us, surrender.” The Confederate Army did surrendered to General Grant on July 4, 1863.

Inside the Visitor’s Center, we walked past a kids-area as we picked up our travel tree ornament. A few minutes later after Mike and I watched the movie about Vicksburg, guess where we found the boys…

While the park had an audio tour on the NPS App, we had our own tour guide, who was much better😁

Several States have monuments within Vicksburg NP. Each was different, some very ornate and some simple. The southern states were not financially able to add monuments immediately following the Civil War. Tennessee didn’t add their memorial until 1996. Kentucky actually has two monuments: one for the Kentucky Union troops and one for their confederate troops. Kentucky’s confederate Monument was the most recent add to the Park in 2010.

These trenches were everywhere where each side dug them out for shelter and strategy throughout the battle.

The USS Cairo is here as well after being discovered in the 1962 at the bottom of the Yazoo River. The ship, an Ironclad (meaning it was steamboat ship covered by Iron for protection), was the first ship to be sunk by a mine that was hand detonated.

Now if I hadn’t read it on a plaque, I never would have believed that a bottle of pepper sauce found on the ship was unopened, edible and delectable! But, it was on a plaque, so its gotta be true! (Wonder who the person one who taste tested 100 year old pepper sauce? 🤢)

Last service at Mom’s Cafe until June… 😢

Mike said it was the greatest day – with his family, reading about history in a national park and eating chocolate chip cookies ♥️

The cemetery in Vicksburg is for union troops only and accepted soldiers and spouses for burial up until the Korean War.

The red markers throughout the park represented confederate troops and the blue were union troops… sometimes they weren’t shooting from very long distances.

We loved the story of Adeline Shirley. The Shirley House, known as the white house by soldiers sat right in the middle of the Battle of Vicksburg. When the Confederacy was looking this section of the Battle, a confederate soldier was sent to burn the Shirley house to prevent union troops from using for shelter. Adeline Shirley met him at the fire and fought for the protection of her house. She argued with him for so long, Union sharpshooter was able to get close enough the kill the confederate soldier sent to burn her house. The guy should have known, you don’t mess with a southern woman… especially while standing on her porch!

We said goodbye to Mississippi and hello again to Louisiana…

Brains full of American history, it was time for some pop history. A true “only in America” story…

They’ve a few visitors, especially from the East Coast

The Duck Commander tour was awesome – you watched a movie about Phil and Si’s upbringing. The story of Phil and Kay’s relationship, Phil’s college football career at Louisiana Tech (playing 1st string QB over Terry Bradshaw), and the early years of Duck Commander.

We did not know that LONG before Duck Dynasty fame, the Robertsons were famous for hunting VHS and DVDs starting in 1988. The boys couldn’t understand while people would buy these. This was pre-YouTube. There wasn’t an app for everything then. If you wanted to watch something, you bought the VHS Tape or DVD, or you waited until it came on TV somewhere and tried to figure out how to program your VCR.

We saw Willie’s office (I think Mike is getting decorating ideas for his office); the duck call room where a video by Jas taught us how to assemble our duck calls (Guess how Michael and Leo are getting up Monday morning 🤣); the sets from the movie “The Blind”; had a cooking lesson about biscuits from Mrs. Kay; and Phil Robertson prayed our the visitors as we left (Leo found a replica of Phil’s recliner and made himself comfortable).

Lawd, I hope they don’t want a car like this 🥴

LOVED THIS TOUR – it was heartwarming, cheesy and just fun!

We said goodbye to our bearded friends and headed back to Shreveport for our flight tomorrow. Still frozen fish was unpacked back into the freezer and what remains of Mom’s Cafe supplies are unloaded for unlimited snacking tonight. Michael headed to the gym to work out, and Leo headed to the pool so I could throw a ball at him as hard and fast as possible… no, not out of meanness 🤣 for goalkeeper practice ⚽️

Then we headed out for dinner. The boys have been dying to try Raising Canes and since there isn’t one in Greensboro, it qualifies for a vacation restaurant.

The chicken was pretty good but the Cain Sauce was delicious! We played a few more hands of card to finish off our game of Garbage while we watched the Iowa/UConn game.

Tomorrow we head back to reality, but 2 states closure to 50!