November 5 - Drove 269 miles today - 37.8mpg
On the road at 8:30am - our first stop was to drive through the military park.
Pretty much the last of the Civil War icons we will visit on our trip. Victory by Ulysses Grant at Vicksburg gave the Union control of the Mississippi River at last. The siege of Vicksburg ended on July 4, 1863, the day after Lee retired in defeat from the Battle at Gettysburg. A turning point in the war.
The Union army bombarded Vicksburg from the sea while Union gunboats bombarded it from the river.
A lengthy tour road, many monuments large and small - individual states all represented more than once memorializing either all of its sons and daughters who fought and died or individual units.
From the state of Illinois - one of the largest and finest of the memorials.
In the center of the rotunda floor in the Illinois memorial.
The Vietnam Nam memorial in Washington has many names inscribed on it. Here too, inside the Illinois memorial are many, many names.
Pronounced "'Kay roh", this ironclad Union gunboat was the first ironclad ship ever sunk by an electric torpedo (mine). No other such vessels still exist. This one was recovered from the Mississippi mud where it had lain in remarkable condition for decades. A real piece of history. It is located on the battlefield tour route.
Nasty looking and just as deadly.
Port Gibson was the last defended port n the Mississippi to fall prior to Vicksburg. It's motto is from the words of Grant himself. 100 years later, African Americans in Gibson staged an 11 year economic boycott against White shopkeepers (and the town's power structure) for their political rights. The shopkeepers won a $1.2 million judgement against 12 boycotters and the NAACP - it was upheld by the Mississippi Supreme Cout but vacated by the U.S. Supreme Court in a landmark decision.
This painting memorializes the boycott.
We have the road to ourselves on the final miles into Natchez, after leaving the 450 mile Parkway behind.
Just before the end of the Parkway, the Emerald Mound, the second largest ceremonial mound in the U.S., outside of one in Illinois. This thing is massive. Norm is standing on a vast mound already, large, flat and broad. What's behind is a mound on a mound.
Unlike the site at Hopewell, in Ohio, this mound complex can be accessed to the tippy top. This complex was built by the Mississippian tradition. Pam is Queen of the mountain!
The visitor parking lot was huge - and virtually empty. inside, equally huge with four women attending four booths to buy tickets for various things and give information - with no one to talk to but between themselves. Were these paying jobs? One admitted that this was not "the season".
Norm pointing more or less to Baton Rouge, capital of Louisiana. Next stop.
A similar photo of Norm sitting in the rocker came out looking like a senile old coot in his dotage. This one of Pam, much better. Times sure have changed...no retirement rocking chair for us.
While we drove our car to sightsee, these folks took it slower - wonder if they have rocking chairs at home?
The rear view of the cathedral with the pipe organ.
With the Louisiana state Capitol built in 1932 at the arm twisting urging of Governor Huey "the Kingfish" Long. It's Art Deco all the way No Gothic this, or Beax Art that here.
The main entry hall - stunning. Cost in 1932, the depths of the Depression, was $5 million or $88 million in today's dollars. Marble from Italy, the works. Huey planned to run for a president against FDR in 1936 and thought this modern edifice helped his image.
Huey was shot and killed inside the building that was his brainchild. He is buried on the grounds of the Capitol, under a statue of himself facing the Capitol.
New York architect James H. Dakin was hired to design the Baton Rouge old state Capitol building, and rather than mimic the national Capitol Building in Washington, as so many other states had done, he conceived a Neo-Gothic medieval-style castle overlooking the Mississippi. Dakin referred to his turreted design, built 1847-52, as "Castellated Gothic" due to its decoration with cast iron, which was both cheaper and more durable than other building materials used at the time.
The Louisiana Memorial Plaza - the sign says it's "one of the state's most sacred shrines".
Because nothing says "sacred" like a Vietnam era Vought F8 Crusader.
As we were leaving Baton Rouge, we were able to view the bayous mile after mile, with lots of tree stumps sticking out here and there. And then suddenly we were across the Mississippi River with the western vistas before us. One more night in Louisiana and our fifth of the five Deep South states - we have now successfully negotiated them all. Next is Texas, the first state to seriously propose secession from the Union since the Civil War. And why not?
We arrived at our hotel in 6:45pm in 73 degrees. At mid-day it reached 91 - whew 🌞 👙
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