Five Sardines in a Can: Day Eleven

After heading out Monday morning from "The Hitchin’ Post", we continued our trip back home until we came to Vicksburg, Mississippi. You probably know that this was an important place during the War of Northern Aggression, as it controlled a long stretch of the Mississippi river.

Led by General Grant, the Federals besieged the town known as the “American Gibraltar” because of its highly defensible position. A long fight ensued between Grant and General Pembrandt, the Confederate General at Vicksburg. The Confederates were reduced to eating mule meat and pea-bread- a delicacy composed of pea mash and corn meal, as hard as a rock on the outside and mushy on the inside. Vicksburg finally had to surrender on July 3rd, 1863, as it had received no help.

The Illinois Monument
We toured the entire battlefield, which is a national park, listening to a CD tour. There was a monument to every state which had soldiers fight in the battle, which includes Alabama. Illinois had the most impressive monument in the Park, a large building modeled after the Pantheon in Rome. If you stomped in this building it sounded like a cannon. (More Pictures will be posted later.)

We left Vicksburg later than expected and arrived safely at home without incident around 11:00. We thank all of you who were praying for us during our trip, and we can’t wait to talk!