The Wonders of Vicksburg

Vicksburg, Mississippi was not what I had expected; I had eagerly anticipated visiting that great battlefield of the Civil War, but came away from Vicksburg with memories of - coca-Cola, Riverfront Murals, the Old Courthouse Museum and the Duff Green Mansion - and yes, the Vicksburg Battlefield.

The Vicksburg National Military Park is a sprawling 117 acres of pristine park.  A 16 mile tour road that meanders through an area lined with more than 1,340 (sometimes spectacular - an in the domed Illinois Memorial) monuments that honor the various regiments and leaders of both the Union and Confederate armies.  Battlefield placards identify particular regiments, infantry and artillery.  Cannons are displayed along the battle lines of both the Confederate and Union armies and the true  aficionado  can read accounts of each battle scene or encampment.

For 48 days, Union soldiers laid siege upon the city of Vicksburg, but never succeeded in breaching the city itself (which was a veritable fortress); a testament to the resolve of the Confederacy.  In the end, broken by the many days of the long siege, with the townspeople facing starvation and seeing no end in sight - on July the 4th of 1863, General John C. Pemberton surrendered Vicksburg to Major General Grant, and from this day forward was labeled as a Confederate traitor.

In addition to the battlefield monuments and the Vicksburg National Cemetery (where 17,077 Union and Confederate soldiers are laid to rest), the ironclad gunboat Cairo is housed at the museum which bears its name on the grounds of the Vicksburg National Military Park.

Not to be missed by anyone visiting the park, the gunboat USS Cairo was salvaged from the depths of the Yazoo River in 1965.

In 1863 while attempting to clear mines from the Yazoo River the Cairo itself became a victim of a mine and sunk in less than 12 minutes.

Today the Cairo holds its place in history owing to that Confederate triumph, and became the first warship in history sunk by an electronically detonated mine.

Not a particularly large city (population: 26,407), Vicksburg, nonetheless, has a lot to offer beyond the mandatory battlefield.  I was surprised to learn that Vicksburg is where the bottling of Coca-Cola began.

Candy maker Joseph A. Biedenharn took note of the brisk sales fountain Coca-Cola and began to bottle Coca-Cola in 1894.  Unfortunately, he never secured the bottling rights which went to two Chattanooga entrepreneurial attorneys for the sum of (yes) - One Dollar.

Today you can tour Biedenharn's small candy store museum and learn how Coca-Cola was originally bottled and distributed; a short, but interesting tour.


Within walking distance of the Coca-Cola Museum, a must see, the Riverfront Murals a fantastic wall display of 32 individual murals painted depicting Vicksburg's history (including Theodore Roosevelt's refusal to shoot the tied-up - "Teddy Bear").  The 12 x 20 foot murals are the brain-child of Robert Dafford who oversees all the murals painted by the various artists (check out the link to see them all).


Before finishing my two days in Vicksburg a tour was made of the Old Courthouse Museum and the Duff Green (just one of a host of mansion tours available in Vicksburg).

Were it devoid of any museum artifacts the Old Courthouse Museum would still be worth the walk through.  The entire top floor, where the original courtroom remains intact, would appear to be the perfect setting for the - "Scopes Monkey Trial."