| TRAVELOGUE, PT.2: SUNDAY (Natchez Trace, Clinton to Natchez): Ulysses S. Grant knew that Vicksburg was key to ending the Civil War. He had already taken Memphis and the Federals also held New Orleans, but Vicksburg was a tough nut to crack. Unable to land at Vicksburg because of a fierce defense from the hunkered-down Confederates, Grant sent his troops west of the River into Louisiana, and then south down to Port Gibson (Bruinsburg to be exact), and crossed there. The move was one big buttonhook, as he then swept around to the east, and took the Natchez Trace up to Raymond, Mississippi where he eventually plotted his siege of Vicksburg. Meanwhile, his compatriot Sherman was given the go-ahead to seize Jackson, Mississippi, which he did with the zeal and pyromaniacal fervor. After Sherman was done, Jackson was known as "Chimneyville," as that is pretty much all that was left standing in some parts of the capital... Stephanie cycled with me from Clinton to Port Gibson. She was so proud of the mileage that she didn't want to reset her odometer. My mom met us there in her car and we took pictures of the Corinthian ruins of the Windsor plantation, up on a bluff beyond Port Gibson, adjacent to the ravines that tangled up the Union troops as they began their battle... Later as the sun began its descent into the western sky, the three of us drove to Natchez and ate gumbo as we watched barges motor towards New Orleans... |