Trip To See My Hubby - Day 1

I am finally home from what was a most wonderful, unexpected trip!  It was a 5 day journey to see Jed in Mississippi during his four days of liberty from Camp Shelby where he is currently stationed at.  Originally I was not planning on seeing him at all after he left back in September, but here was an opportunity I didn't want to regret not taking.  I planned this trip with with 3 other military wives - Julie, Kelly, and Katie.  I took a lot of photos so I'll post each day individually.

I flew out of my hometown last Saturday at 7:30 in the morning and after a few flights, a long lay-over, and a two hour drive, I was finally in my husbands' arms around 8:30 PM that night.  We hugged each other tightly - it was so good to see Jed!  We stayed the night in Hattiesburg, MS, which is the closest city to Camp Shelby.

The next day, we (meaning two other couples and us) traveled a few hours to Vicksburg, MS.  There were a few things in this area that we had planned on seeing, one of which was the Vicksburg National Military Park. 

Vicksburg National Military Park - Vicksburg, Mississippi

This park is the largest of its kind in America.  In the park contains monuments, battle fields, and areas where the Union and Confederate Armies fought to gain control of Vicksburg and the Mississippi River.

At the Memorial Arch where the park tour begins:

At the Visitor's Center and Shop trying on some Civil War hats.  We also watched a video about the siege of Vicksburg.  Very interesting, and it helped make sense of what we were to see later on in the park.

Jed thrilled to be in all of these pictures...and having to smile too:

Vicksburg became the focus of military campaigns from October 1862 to July, 1863 for control of the Mississippi River. The Union wanted such control in order to split the Confederacy and to restore free commerce to the politically important Northwest.

Layne and Katie:

One of the actual Confederate Posts that were made to defend the city from the Union soldiers (parts of it were rebuilt to show what it used to look like:

Ulysses S. Grant was the Major General that led the Union Army:

 Abraham Lincoln ordered Grant to clear the Mississippi of Confederate resistance because he considered Vicksburg to be "the key, where the war could never be brought to a close until that key is in our pocket."   Grant led the siege of Vicksburg and the surrounding areas of the south during the Civil War.

100,000 troops from 28 states fought for control of Vicksburg and the Mississippi River.  Thousands were killed around these hills.

The whole park is covered in forest, so beautiful:

Getting ready to enter a tunnel that was dug out by the Union soldiers to get to the other side of the hill without the Confederate soldiers shooting them down.  The Confederates would shoot any head that popped up above the miles of dug trenches.

What a cool feeling it is to know that you are walking where history literally took place.  Places like this make history come alive and lights a fire in me to learn more about what happened.

Jed at the end of the tunnel:  (That would be Seth's hands reaching down.)

Had lots of fun taking pictures:

Our fun group that we traveled with:

From Left: Layne & Katie, me & Jed, Kelly & Seth 

The Illinois Memorial:

Me and Jed weren't the only ones excited to see each other:

Inside the Memorial we met some people and sang a couple of patriotic songs.  The acoustics of the building were great and the music just rang and echoed in our ears.  Singing those kinds of songs stirs up a lot of emotions in me, it was great.

Some great pics that I didn't take:

Getting a picture of the ceiling:

As the siege progressed, the Confederate Lt. General Pemberton and his 20,000-man garrison was reduced by disease and starvation, and the city's residents were forced to seek the refuge of caves and bombproofs in the surrounding hillsides.  Hunger and daily bombardments by Grant's forces and Porter's gunboats compelled Pemberton to ask for surrender terms 3 July.


This Canon indicates the spot in which Pemberton's Confederate army finally surrendered to the Union Army on July 4, 1863:

U.S.S Cairo -  
One of the Union Navy gunboats built in 1861 that was sunk during the siege of Vicksburg during the Civil War.  It was pulled out of the Yazoo River in 1965.

Parts of the boat are the original structure and the rest of it was reconstructed to let people see what the entire ship looked like:

Here is what it originally looked like:

The paddle wheels that were powered by boilers:

Vicksburg National Cemetery:
Over 17,000 Civil War Union soldiers were buried here on this 116 acre cemetery inside the park.  The bodies were buried where they were killed instead of being sent back home to family members.  It is the largest Civil War cemetery in the United States:

We spent several hours touring this park and got to see a lot of American history.  I wished we could have stayed longer to see the rest of it.  There were a couple of buildings and areas that we didn't have time to check out.