Vicksburg National Military Park

Because we went to Vicksburg before, I've decided to concentrate on the USS Cairo, the only boat that the South was able to sink during the battle of Vicksburg. 102 years after the USS Cairo sank to the bottom of the Yazoo River, the boat was located and a massive salvage effort was set in motion to raise the boat and restore as much as possible. It wasn't actually transported to the Vicksburg National Military Park until 1977.

"Meet the deadline or pay $200 a day."  James Buchanan Eads, a wealthy St. Louis industrialist who risked his fortune in support of the Union, agreed to the deadline terms for the construction of 7 new ironclads. To speed production, a partner shipyard built 3 of the boats. Eads' shipyard built the other 4. All 7 were delivered 100 days later. The USS Cairo and 6 sister boats were all named for towns along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Unlike wooden sailing ships used at the beginning of the Civil War, these new boats had steam engines, armor plating, 13 cannons and a whopping top speed of 9 MPH!

We had no idea the the ironclads were paddle boats driven by steam. The paddle was actually inside the boat. It took a ton of coal per hour to make the steam to power the engines that drove the paddle wheel. They had to keep the fires burning and steam pressure up even when anchored in case of an attack, because without the steam the boat couldn't move. I wouldn't want to be the "coal heavers" who piled coal from storage into the fire room!

Some of the sides of the boat have rails turned upside down for the sides.

The Hastings, The Bible's and us--There are some outstanding missionaries in our mission, and the Hastings and Bible's are 4 of the best. They are truly the "salt of the earth," and yes, "by their fruits ye shall know them." They're dedicated and humble and are doing a great work in this part of the Lord's vineyard. 

The Missouri Monument--The plaque in front says, "Here Brothers Fought. Here, Confederates from Missouri fought Union soldiers from Missouri. At Vicksburg--and across every Civil War battlefield--men who had once been friends faced off as enemies. Neighbors and even family members found themselves on opposite sides, fighting for different ideals. Did they hesitate to fire on each other? In the officers' ranks were many men who had attended the same military academies. When Grant and Pemberton met to discuss surrender terms, they spoke as enemy commanders, but also as West Point graduates. The Civil War was not a struggle to fend off a foreign nation, but a war of Americans fighting Americans."

The sun is always in the wrong part of the sky by the time we get to the Kentucky Monument, but it's still a beautiful sight even though you probably can't tell it's Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis.