Vicksburg

She said: On Saturday, we went to the Vicksburg Military National Park. Here's what we learned. Vicksburg was a very key battle because it meant control of the Mississippi River. It was one of the two last Confederate holds on the river. After several attempts to take over the city and battles, General Grant positioned his troops in a strategic position. The Vicksburg siege lasted for several weeks until finally the Confederate troops surrendered.


We saw a "living history" demonstration of firing a cannon. Cover those ears!


A classic "Israel's arm" shot. You can see one of the monuments and a cannon behind us. Why don't we just ask someone to take the picture for us?


Illinois knows how to pay tribute to their soldiers. Each state has the responsibility of erecting their own monuments in the park.


Notice the contraption in Israel's hand. You can rent a GPS that has little videos pop up as you travel around the park. Pretty cool stuff, I think I've even put a GPS on the Christmas list.

Israel can't just stand there to take a picture. It does keep me entertained though. We didn't get out at every monument, but if there was a firing soldier or anything else Israel deemed "cool," we'd hike to it.

A tunnel built under a hill, so the soldiers didn't have to be exposed to get to the other side.

The Texas Monument.