Cairo

The USS Cairo was sunk during the campaign by a mine (torpedo in 1863 verbiage).  A hundred years later the legendary Ed Bearss was a chief part of the group that found and raised the Cairo.  Now it is on display at the park, protected by a large tent.  When it was raised it was torn into pieces which have now been fixed.  Some modern structure has been added to help round out the shape plus keep it steady so that it doesn't fall apart once more.  I could spend a whole day here taking pictures of the various parts.  It seems each step brings a different interesting angle into view. 

 

Vicksburg national cemetery

The national cemetery is on ground that was activiely fought over during the siege.  Just outside the gates is this battery of huge cannons.  But inside the cemetery one will find markers denoting positions held by troops during the siege as well as monuments to those troops.  Whenever visiting a battlefield I try to stop at the cemeteries to remind myself of the very real sacrifice that occured there.  There is little more I can add to commemorate thier valor so I'll just leave the following images for you.  However in the final picture there is a bird sitting in the dead tree.  We can pretend that its an eagle watching over the graves but its probably a hawk looking for a mouse to eat.  For now I'll go with the eagle story.

Old Depot Museum - part 2

The display I remembered most from my previous visit was a large scene of the entire siege.  I'm glad it is in a better space.  In the future I'd love to add pictures of the modern ground to match each scene.  Maybe even use drones to get the same angles as here.  I know for one thing there would a ton more trees, maybe too many for this to be meaningful at all.  But in some areas of the park the trees are being removed to replicate the 1863 appearance, so maybe some day it would be possible.

There are info plaques around the display so that you know what each scene is.  I did not take pictures of those so I cannot comment on what each scene is.  I highly recommend making this museum part of your Vicksburg tour.