Vicksburg Battlefield Tour....

Recently we visited the Vicksburg National Military Park. I'm not sure why they call it a park considering the horrific things that happened here. I noticed when my kids were young that if I used the word park it set certain expectations and I know pet owners that must spell out the word P-A-R-K lest old Spot become excitable with expectations also. 

I saw no kids playing and certainly no pets when I looked out over the cemetery. These are not just causalities of this battle but after the Civil War there was an undertaking that I cannot hardly imagine.  Many hastily buried people were disinterred from battlefields all over in the years after the war and reburied with some measure of dignity in a known place. There are also vets and their spouses from other conflicts. The small flat headstones are the unidentified.      

This was actually my third visit to the battlefield. Seems I recall as a child a tour of a museum in an old house. There were many battle artifacts with the inference they were from the property where the fighting raged around the very spot we stood. On leaving the proprietor flipped back the door mat to expose an unexploded shell we had walked across to enter the place. My child's imagination felt shot at and missed. 

I don't remember where that house was but the only remaining structure from the battle is the Shirley House.  Here's a picture from the time of the 18 month long campaign that ended on July 4, 1863.  

This is my photo of Cathy at the house. I'm standing where the dugouts were that sheltered troops from the meatgrinder area just down the road.  

Reportedly my father, a WW2 infantryman was asked on his return from the war by a solider headed over for European occupation duty for any tips he might have for things good to know. My father asked what the soldier's job would be. "Infantry" he answered. My father said, "get out."

The slaughter of infantrymen attempting to storm defenses in this battle is hard to comprehend in this day and age when we call for trials and investigations when military adventures are costly. This battery overlooks the old course of the Mississippi which was the main river at the time of the battle and has since changed by floods. Causalities were light at this dug in position but I imagine not too pleasant of a time for those below.     

There are many monuments honoring men from all the states who sacrificed at the battle. We won't ever know how this expense makes those guys laying in the cemetery feel but maybe if we look around history enough we won't make the same mistakes. 

I don't know if I had any ancestors at this battle. The only other Civil War battleground I have toured is Mansfield, La and I suspect I had Texas people there due to the proximity of the campaign and the general area of their service. I do know that old George Washington Massingill, my 4th great grandfather lost two sons to sickness during the war. Hopefully they lay in a park and rest easy.