Wednesday, August 27, 2008

The USS Cairo in Vicksburg, Mississippi

While I was in Vicksburg last week, we visited the National Military Park. This park has many monuments honoring the soldiers who fought in the battle of Vicksburg. The monument that made the biggest impression on me is monument dedicated to the soldiers from the state of Illinois. It is a building made of marble and Stone Mountain granite. My favorite aspect of this monument was the Mosaic of tiles that made up the seal of the state of Illinois.

Another attraction of the park is the Ironclad Gunboat, the USS Cairo. The USS Cairo was sunk by a torpedo on December 12, 1862. The good news is that there was no loss of life due to the ship sinking. The Cairo was submerged for about 100 years in the Yazoo River (In the museum I thought it was the Mississippi River, but after reading about it online, I realize it was the Yazoo, they are pretty close to each other around Vicksburg). In the 1960's, most of the ship was recovered and reassimbled , using new wood in the places where the original ship had deteriorated. Next to the ship is a museum, with artifacts and information about this Ironclad Gunship.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This topic have a tendency to become boring but with your creativeness its great.

Dozer101 said...

awesome pictures