FP Update 2/14 Vicksburg, Mississippi

Vicksburg National Military Park
Vicksburg is known as the site of a key Civil War battle. The Siege of Vicksburg is commemorated at the vast Vicksburg National Military Park. To Confederate President Jefferson Davis, Vicksburg was the "nailhead that holds the South's two halves together." President Abraham Lincoln remarked "Vicksburg is the key" to victory and could be the North's lifeline into the South.

We drove through the well-maintained grounds which are filled with large monuments and clearly marked battlefields. A great opportunity to learn about this significant battle in American history.

USS Cairo
We visited the salvaged ship on display. It was one of seven shallow-draft City Class river Ironclads, which was commissioned in January 1862. Named after towns along the upper Mississippi and Ohio rivers (Cairo, Illinois in this instance), the seven formidable City Class gunboats prowled the Mississippi River and connected shallow waterways, menacing Confederate supply lines and shore batteries.

Cairo’s career was short, seeing limited action. On December 12, 1862, it was on a mission to destroy Confederate batteries and clear the river of torpedoes but was hit by one (torpedo) and sunk within 12 minutes. The entire crew made it out alive. The ship was slowly and piece by piece salvaged from the Mississippi River in the 1960s and is on display. A pretty cool ship to see and the museum did a great job with the display.

Coca-Cola Museum - Right in the middle of downtown Vicksburg is the candy store which is the location where the soda was bottled for the first time in 1894. We were a bit confused since we knew that the first Coca-Cola bottling plant was in Chattanooga. The guide explained that the Vicksburg candy shop had a small operation turning the syrup into soda on a limited scale. The Chattanooga group opened a full bottling plant in 1899 with the approval of the president of Coca-Cola. The group in Vicksburg did not actually tell Coca-Cola about their small/limited operation.

The candy store has a wide variety of original Coca-Cola advertising and memorabilia is on display. The restored candy shop and office area will take you back to a simpler, sweeter time with furnishings and displays from the 1890s.Læs mere