On the Delta Tamale Trail

Plundering history atThe Old Court House Museum

Old Time Music

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1990 South Frontage Rd., Suite J • Vicksburg, MS Phone 601-883-1983 • Fax 601-883-1938

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office1601 F North Frontage Road

P.O. Box 821668Vicksburg, MS 39182-1668

601-636-4545601-634-0897

impressions@vicksburgpost.comnews@vicksburgpost.comads@vicksburgpost.com

On the cover:Tour guide Myra Logue stands in front of a cannon at the Vicks-

burg National Military Park.

On the Hot Tamale Trail . . . . 3

Old time music . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

The plundering of history . . . . 6

Tour the park in the winter . . 22

This hot tamale, prepared by Jewel McCain, owner of

Solly’s Hot Tamales on Washing-ton Street, is fresh from the hot

stove.

Hellen Melsheimer, standing, plays the fiddle with the Missis-

sippi Old Time Music Society at the Mississippi Welcome Center.

The Old Court House Museum is shadowed by large trees that fill Court Square, which looks down on Cherry Street.

The Union gunboat USS Cairo was reconstructed and is on dis-play more than 100 years after it was sunk by Confederate gunfire.

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2 c Winter 2011

Hot tamales in Vicksburg are hot on the Hot Tamale Trail.

The more-than-70-year tradition of corn meal and seasoned beef tucked gently inside a cornhusk has put Vicksburg on the

foodie map.Vicksburg’s legendary hot

tamales and Henry Sollys, the man behind the legend, are on the Mississippi

Delta Hot Tamale Trail, a documen-

tary project capturing the history, tradition and culture of hot tamales from Tunica to Vicksburg.

The project, begun in 2005, was created by the Southern Foodways Alliance, an Oxford-based nonprofit with the mis-sion of documenting, studying and celebrating the unique and diverse food cultures of the changing American South.

Locals and travelers have flocked to the Vicksburg-fla-vored tamale for more than half a century. Its position on the tamale trail, however, has furthered its fame.

Vicksburg’s connection to the hot tamale centers mainly on Sollys, whose rich history prevails in two Vicksburg tamale establishments, Solly’s Hot Tamales and The Tamale Place, both carrying on one man’s tamale-making legacy.

Sollys, a native of Cuba, landed in Vicksburg with his wife and four young children in 1939 with the goal of making

Tradition takes two eateriesto Delta Tamale Trail ranks

The Tamale Place at 2190 S. Frontage Road has been serving up tamales for the past 17 years.

Solly’s Hot Tamales has operated in this building at 1921 Washington St., for nearly 50 years.

Hottamale

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Winter 2011 d 3

and selling hot tamales. With meat on credit from a local grocer, Sollys set out to start his own tamale business. The tamale man, as he became known by some locals, wheeled his tamale cart around town, selling newspaper-wrapped hot tamales.

His home was a sort of tamale-central, where he made his unique creations,

along with hamburgers and hotdogs that were sold from inside the home by his wife

and children. Sollys, who died

in 1992 at the age of 100, contin-

ued making tamales in his Washing-ton Street restaurant up until about two years before his death.

The tradition of Sollys’ tamales is now carried out in two Vicksburg locations.

Sollys’ daughter, Marjorey Brown, has owned and operated The Tamale Place on South Frontage Road for a little over 17 years. The Washington Street busi-ness that still bares the Sollys name is run by, Jewel McCain, who inherited Sollys’ business in 1982.

Some debate surrounds who holds the key to Sollys’ secret ingredients and both business owners claim to have been taught by the tamale man himself. But, there’s no doubt that the two tamale shops are visited by people all over the world, most of whom agree that Vicks-burg is home to their favorite tamales.

“We have people who have grown up on them as kids, and they have to bring their children in to try them,” McCain said.

Many Vicksburg natives tie hot tama-les to home.

“We have (our customers), who come home (for holidays), and they come

here first,” McCain said. “They say they have to eat hot tamales when they get here.”

Twenty-one-year-old Michael

Brown, the great-grandson of Henry Sollys, grew up around a boiling pot of hot tamales. He considers himself a legacy to the Sollys tamale trade.

“It’s all I’ve done pretty much my whole life,” he said of the family business.

Brown said he and his grandmother,

Michael Brown shows off a hot tamale much like those served by his great-grandfather, Henry Sollys. Brown now cooks tamales with his grandmother and Sollys’ daughter, Marjorey Brown, owner of The Tamale Place on South Frontage Road.

Michael Brown, the great-grandson of hot tamale legend Henry Sollys, takes corn-husk-wrapped hot tamales out of a boiling pot at his family’s business, The Tamale Place, on South Frontage Road.

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4 c Winter 2011

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Marjorey Brown, are the only two in The Tamale Place family who can mix the special blend of seasoning just the way Sollys did daily for nearly 50 years.

“She’s been doing it 70-something years,” Michael Brown said of his grand-mother. “She was made to do it.”

Sollys’ hot tamales are quite different from those found north of Vicksburg in Delta tamale towns, such as Greenville. They also differ greatly from Mexican tamales seasoned with flavors native to cultures south of the border.

McCain said she doesn’t like the taste of other tamales she’s tried. Many of them use masa flour as opposed to the Sollys way of using plain white cornmeal.

“I grew up on these,” she said. “I guess I’m kind of prejudiced.”

Sollys’ way of making tamales is no easy task. The work begins early — around 6:30 in the morning, some-times — and continues until the doors open to customers. Big slabs of meat are boiled, ground and seasoned. In the meantime, the corn meal is mixed and, then, added to boiling water and hot grease to blend. The tamales are hand-rolled and wrapped in corn husks.

“It’s the only way to get the best flavor,” Michael Brown said of the husk wraps.

Once made, the tamales sit in a large

pot of boiling water. McCain said she adds water throughout the day so the pot doesn’t dry out.

McCain still uses pots and pans used by Sollys, whom she called Papa. She even uses his special machine, which mixes the meal and meat together. McCain cranks the machine for about an hour and a half each morning as part of her tamale-making process.

McCain has a push-pin covered map inside the Solly’s Hot Tamales’ dining area that represents how far her cus-tomers travel to try the Sollys-inspired tamales she cooks up daily. Being on the Mississippi Delta Hot Tamale Trail, she said, has helped bring even more atten-tion to the tamale legend of Vicksburg.

While others have certainly made and sold tamales in and around Vicksburg over the years, today’s tamale is cer-tainly a tradition steeped in the legend of Henry Sollys, the Vicksburg tamale man. It’s his recipe and his hard work that makes his legacy live on.

“His seasoning is the key that keeps people coming back,” McCain said.

— Story & photos by Lauchlin Fields

Jewel McCain looks over her push-pin covered map that shows how far peo-ple have traveled to try the hot tamales she has served up for the past 28 years at Solly’s Hot Tamales on Washington Street. McCain inherited the business from Henry Sollys in 1982.

Jewel McCain, owner of Solly’s Hot Tama-les on Washington Street, shows off a paddle used to stir her hot tamale ingredients. The large spoon was passed down to her along with the business by family friend Henry Sollys.

If you goSolly’s Hot Tamales is located at

1921 Washington St. The res-taurant is open for dine-in and carryout from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Tuesday through Saturday.The Tamale Place, located at

2190 S. Frontage Road, is open for carryout orders only from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily except Sun-

days.For information on the Missis-

sippi Delta Hot Tamale Trail and to view the interactive map, visit

www.tamaletrail.com.

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Winter 2011 d 5

The plunder of history

The entrances of the Old Court House Museum are lined with 30-foot columns.

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The plunder of history

The Old Court House Museum is shadowed by large trees that fill the square, which looks down on Cherry Street.

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Winter 2011 d 7

Old Court House more than a museumFrom its perch atop Court Square,

where its four entrances are flanked by 30-foot columns, the 15,000-square-foot Old Court House Museum-Eva W. Davis Memorial has become an iconic symbol for the City of Vicksburg, which bustles below.

It’s where Confederate President Jef-ferson Davis launched his political career with his first public speech. It’s also the stage from which Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant addressed his troops during the Siege of Vicksburg. And, the upstairs courtroom was home to at least three famous trials.

After nearly eight decades of making history as Warren County’s courthouse, that same historic building, now known as the Old Court House Museum, is like a time capsule of Vicksburg’s history.

Filled with rare and unique artifacts, the museum helps tell Vicksburg’s col-orful story through its nine rooms of artifacts and treasures that date to the city’s pioneer days. The Confederate Room, a favorite for many history buffs in town to experience the city’s Civil War legacy, touts many rarities that give a glimpse into Vicksburg life during the 47-day siege in the summer of 1863.

The room is filled with mementos of all aspects of life during that historic time. Quilts made by slaves, a Union officer’s camp chair, journals document-

ing what officers saw during the war and a Confederate flag that was never sur-rendered are among the collection. The artifacts, all donated to the museum and significant to the Vicksburg story, piece together a vivid picture of the city during the Civil War.

“There are many versions of how Vicksburg was affected by the war — lots of different viewpoints,” said cura-tor Bubba Bolm. “We like our version.”

While the Civil War was a promi-nent time for the 1858-built building, the museum covers the whole gamut of Vicksburg and Warren County history.

From cookware to musical instru-ments, clocks and furniture, the museum paints a picture of Vicksburg that can be seen only within its hallowed

If you goThe Old Court House Museum-Eva W. Davis Memorial is open Monday through Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Sunday from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. The museum is open until 5 p.m. dur-ing Daylight Saving Time. Admission is $5 for adults, $4.50 for 65 or older and $3 for students in first through 12th grades. Group rates are available for 10 or more people. For information, call 601-636-0741 or visit www.oldcourt-house.org.

Curator Bubba Bolm looks over a dis-play that explains cotton’s role in early Vicksburg life. The display is one of many exhibits documenting Vicksburg at the Old Court House Museum.

10

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8 c Winter 2011

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halls. And, most all of the donated items come with a story.

For instance, the story behind the famous minie ball pregnancy — a tale that determines a young woman was impregnated by a bullet that passed through a young soldier and into her abdomen, resulting in a birth nine months later — brings people from all over the world to see the legendary minie ball.

The museum is often the starting point for visitors tracing their ances-try through a relative who fought in the Civil War or who have roots in Vicks-burg. The Old Court House also is a genealogy research center with records that date from the inception of the city through World War II. The museum has cemetery records and city directories, as well as manuscripts and letters from sol-diers for perusal.

“The people are so much fun with the stories they bring with them,” Bolm said. “It’s fun to help these families with

their history.”The museum also has an impressive

collection of photographs spanning Vicksburg’s history. The family of local photographer J. Mack Moore donated thousands of images that give a visual overview of the city.

Though the Old Court House Museum is like a vault for Vicksburg’s history, it wasn’t always that way. It took the dedication of one woman and her lasting legacy to create this special place for people all over the world to experience.

The courtroom in the Old Court House Museum is decorated each winter for various holiday events, such as the Confederate Christmas Ball.

11

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Our drug store is a unique blend of old and new. if you’re looking for something old we can provide a great selection of antique apothecary artifacts, muskets, pistols, projectiles and civil war artifacts. if it is the “new” you seek, we can provide all your prescription needs. We also carry a wide selection of herbal products by Nature’s Sunshine. Every customer is treated like an old friend by Joe Gerache Sr. and Joe Gerache Jr. Whether you need to ask a question or just to say “hello,” they always take time for every customer.

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When the more modern Warren County Courthouse was built across Cherry Street in 1939, the old build-

ing was left abandoned in “a sad state of disrepair,” Bolm said. Eva W. Davis, the founder of the museum, fought for the next seven years to maintain and save the historic building.

She founded the Vicksburg-Warren County Historical Society, which still oversees the building, and with the help of volunteers, Davis opened a one-room museum within the building and sought donations on a local radio show. The museum continues to run off of the $5 self-guided tour admission and gift shop sales. Families continue to donate items to be housed in the museum.

“Every week, something new comes

in,” Bolm said.Because of Davis’ efforts, the Old

Court House Museum has been embraced by the community. Not only does it host visitors from across the world and school groups throughout the year, it is the venue for numerous events.

In the spring, the museum hosts sacred harp singing in the courtroom. In the fall, the annual Old Court House Flea Market brings out people in droves to view arts and crafts on Court Square. December is, perhaps, the busiest time of year, when people dress in Civil War-era costumes for the Old Court House Confederate Christmas Ball. The court-room is decorated with a Christmas tree, garland and red bows to ring in the Christmas season each year.

The entire museum experience is authentic. History is at the fore, no matter the occasion.

“The displays are antique cabinets. Sometimes people get to touch things and see things that aren’t behind double glass,” said museum research historian Matt Floriani. “We have a 1906 cash register to take people’s money.”

The museum hosts about 30,000 visi-tors each year. And every state and every country is represented, Bolm said.

“People who come here love this place in an extraordinary way,” said Neal Brun, a research historian at the museum.

— Story & photos by Lauchlin Fields

Curator Bubba Bolm points out details of a table made by a Union soldier for a Vicks-burg family during the Civil War. The table is one of many rare artifacts housed in the Old Court House Museum.

12

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Sandra Melsheimer, right, leads her grandsons, 10-year-old Max and 12-year-old Michael Rangel, in an old-time tune.

16

String instruments — some 100 or more years old — fill Sandra Melsheimer’s home.

Fiddles, a banjo, bass, mando-lin and banjo ukeleles are all tokens of a musical tradition Melsheimer is

sharing through the Mississippi Old Time Music Society, of which she is a founding member.

17

“It’s just the love of the music,”

Melsheimer said of her passion to play and pass

on those old-time tunes.Founded in 1996, the Old Time

Music Society emerged with the goal of educating people about Mississippi’s string band heritage, while preserving its sounds and traditions.

“Everyone focuses on the blues, but we have a great string band tradition here,”

Melsheimer said of Mississippi’s musi-cal legacy.

The music performed and preserved by the music society originally was played and recorded from the Civil War era until the 1930s. It was originally brought over from our Irish and Scot-tish ancestors and has taken on a life of its own.

Unplugged and melodic, old-time music is played as an ensemble, each person playing the same melody

“I like that it can be fast and slow, I like the beat.”

18

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16 c Winter 2011

simultaneously.“It’s a group-participation-type music

rather than focusing on one person,” Melsheimer said.

Not country and not bluegrass, old-time music has a sound all its own.

Although Melsheimer, who has always had a love for traditional folk music, was drawn to playing old-time music later in life. She has introduced her grandsons, 10-year-old Max and 12-year-old Michael Rangel, to the music she now holds dear.

“It’s just a gift I’d like to give them,” she said. “Whether they want it or not.”

Both boys have been playing the fiddle, their grandmother’s current instrument of choice, since they were 4 or 5 years old. And, they’re trying their hands at other string instruments. Melsheimer takes them to music lessons once a week with Old Time Music Society member and music teacher Tim Avalon.

“I like that it can be fast and slow,” Michael said of the old-time music. “I like the beat.”

Starting her grandsons out early with string music is part of the mission of the music society she helped form nearly 15

Old Time Music Society

19

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For more information, visitwww.clintonms.org

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April 9th 4th Annual Caterpillar Parade May 14th June 11th July 9thTomato Tasting August 13th

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Winter 2011 d 17

years ago with her late husband Alvin Hudson.

“These kids have time,” she said. “I’m hoping they will be more comfortable with it since they started early.”

To keep the music alive, the society, comprising about 70

members across the state, gathers two to four times each month for jam ses-

sions. String music work-shops, led by Avalon, are

held each month, and festivals are spon-

sored throughout the year. Each

year, the Mis-

sis-

sippi Old Time Music Society brings a nation-ally known musician to Vicksburg or Jack-son for a two-day workshop on banjo and fiddle. The Vicksburg

workshops are held in Janu-ary at the Old Court House Museum.

Melsheimer, along with her late husband and fellow society member Ted Holman, has pub-

Sandra Melsheimer, founding member of the Mississippi Old Time Music Society, plays an old-time tune with her grandsons, Max, left, and Michael Rangel.

“It’s just the love of the music”

20

To make a donation, call (601)636-1733

The United Way of West Central Mississippi’s fundraising proceeds will pay for health and human services from family counseling to youth development. The campaign continues through December.

Goal Tending

18 c Winter 2011

lished a newsletter that goes to all members monthly since the society was formed. She said several old-time bands have formed from within the society. She, herself, belongs to a band called Bridging the Gap, which com-bines Irish and old-time string band traditions.

The music has always been passed down by oral tradition. Many old-time performers don’t read music but, instead, play by ear.

Even though the same old-time tunes are played from state to state, Melsheimer said the music that landed in Mississippi has taken on a unique sound because of its oral tradition.

“Once it got here to Mississippi, it picked up a little blues flavor,” she said.

“When you go to places like Alabama and North Georgia, it may be the same songs, but it has a different feel to it.”

It seems as though the society’s efforts

are working to draw more people to this traditional music.

“The hope was that more people would be playing this type of music, and that’s happening,”

Melsheimer said.

— Story & photos by Lauchlin Fields

Sandra Melsheimer stands in her home with her grandsons, Michael, center, and Max Rangel, and their collection of string instruments.

“Everyone focuses on the blues, but we have a great

string band tradition here”

21

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The Rev. P.J. Curley watches Monsignor Patrick Farrell swing during the A Club Golf Tournament.

Dreher Harris talks with drum major Lau-ren Rabalais.

Graduates in the St. Aloysius Class of 1971 are, from left, Joyce McKenzie Richards, Lori Israel Flanagan, and Jane Lauderdale Flowers.

Mike Jones, Bubba Booth, Jimmy Salmon and Newell Simrall pose with 1981 and 1987 Head Football Coach Joe Edwards (sitting) whose teams were being recognized as part of the Team of the Century.

Louis Logue, Dr. Eddie Habert and Bobby Gordon, members of the 1958 Football Team of the Century, pose in their personalized sweat-shirts.

Joseph Lauder-dale prepares to cut the ribbon to open the William F. Lauderdale Sr., Physics & Chemistry Lab at St. Aloysius as his mother, Mary Jane Lauderdale, to his left, and other famliy and friends look on.

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20 c Winter 2011

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Casey Gordon & Tamra Miller at the April VAMP meeting

St. Aloysius Principal Michele Connelly, the Rev. P.J. Curley, Mike Curtis and Howard Park watch as scores are posted at the A Club Golf Tournament.

Sisters Robyn and Patricia sign the Red Ribbon that was hung in the Physics & Chemistry Lab.

Joe Gerache, St. Aloysius Class of 1943, shows off the wares he uses in his Civil War exhibition.

2007 Virgadamo Honoree Chris Rabalais waves as his name is called, while, from left, Luke Burnett, Justin Hose-mann, Chip Donald and John Robert Burnett, all Virgadamo and Hall of Fame Honorees, look on.

Members of the 1987 Team of the Century with a 9-3 record are, front from left, Joseph Curro, Brian Boykin, John Kavanaugh, Dr. Paul Pierce, Joey Head and Scott Verhine. Back from left, Damian McClelland, Mike Mar-shall, Brad Warnock, Kette Dornbusch, Tryon Rosser and Steve Smith.

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While the cold tempera-tures are a long-shot from the hot and humid weather endured by soldiers in the summer of 1863, the Vicksburg National Mili-tary Park in winter bears some resemblance to its heyday. Its rolling hills are covered with yellowing grass and bare trees, quite

Take a winTer day To see The miliTary park

The Massachusetts State Memorial is

set against a crystal blue winter sky. This

memorial, dedi-cated in 1903 on Grant Avenue at

Grant Circle, was the first memo-

rial erected in the Vicksburg

National Mili-tary Park.

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The Vicksburg National Military Park is located at 3201 Clay St. Gates are open from 8 am. to 5 p.m. October through March and from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. April through September. The Visitor Center at Clay Street is open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The USS Cairo Museum is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. October through March and 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. April through Sep-tember. Entrance fees are $8 for each vehi-cle, $4 for each individual and $4 a person for buses and vans.

Commercial tours are $25 for up to six people, $40 for seven to 25 people and $100 for more than 25 people. Annual passe are available for $20.

For information, visit www.nps.gov/vick or call 601-636-0583.

unlike the lush blanket of green pres-ent during the Campaign for Vicksburg. But, the stillness of the park during these colder days is not far from what soldiers experienced.

“The winter is a great time to come (visit the park),” said licensed tour guide Myra Logue. “In the winter, it’s quiet and calm — almost like it would get during wartime.”

Logue, a Vicksburg native, has been climbing monuments in the park since she was 2 years old. As a stay-at-home mother, she took her interest a bit fur-ther and became a licensed park guide 24 years ago. In that time, she has given about 4,000 tours to history buffs, school groups, soldiers and dignitaries, including former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

Logue compares her draw to the Vicksburg National Military Park to eating popcorn.

“The more you eat, the more you want,” she said. “I’ve always loved history and people. It’s my niche.”

The park was established in 1899 to

The entrance to the Vicksburg National Military Park welcomes 500,000 to 600,000 visitors each year. The park is used throughout the year by locals, who walk or run portions or all of the 16-mile tour road.

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commemorate the campaign, siege and defense of Vicksburg during the Civil War. It’s home to 1,340 monuments, markers, plaques and tablets — more than any other park — commemo-rating the soldiers who fought on both sides during the Vicks-burg Campaign.

The monuments were designed by some of the best American and Euro-

pean artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Thirty-four monu-ments are made with bronze cast by Tiffany & Co., helping make the park’s unique monuments invaluable and irreplaceable.

“This is one of the finest art parks in the world,” Logue said. “Many of the sculptors are long gone.”

Most of the states from Confeder-ate and Union sides are represented through monuments and markers. Illi-nois, however, has the most, simply because it’s the state that sent the most soldiers — nearly half of all soldiers who fought in the Vicksburg Campaign were from Illinois.

Perhaps, for that reason, the 1906 Illinois Memo-rial is the larg-est of the park’s memorials, and it stands as an

icon to the park. The memorial has 47 steps, one for each day of the siege, and is topped with a 5-foot gilded eagle that weighs a ton. The granite and marble

structure was modeled after the Roman Pantheon and has 60 bronze tab-lets naming all 36,325 Illinois sol-

Bronze tablets naming the more than 36,000 Illinois soldiers who fought during the Vicksburg Campaign line the interior walls of the Illinois Memorial. Licensed tour guide Myra Logue points to the name of one of the soldiers.

Take a winTer day To see The miliTary park

The Union Navy Memorial, modeled after the Washington Monument in Washing-ton, D.C., stands 202 feet and is the tall-est monument in the Vicksburg National Military Park.

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A blue winter sky peeks through the circular opening of the inside of the Illinois Memorial.

diers who participated in the Vicksburg Campaign.

The 62-foot-tall dome has a cen-tral opening to the sky that acts as a sun dial, and, in some cases, a stage for tour guides.

“I like to sing inside because of the echo,” Logue said.

The park’s 16-mile main tour road weaves through the actual battlefield where Union and Confederate soldiers fought nearly 150 years ago during the devastating Siege of Vicksburg. The land bears witness to the brutal force that was used by soldiers as they battled — sometimes through hand-to-hand combat as markers indicate — for con-trol of the Mississippi River, which was the lifeblood of the nation. Like scars, evidence of the 6-foot deep, sometimes-8-foot wide hand-dug trenches, is clear. Blue tablets throughout the park mark where Union forces dug those trenches.

Even though the Civil War is called a “gentlemen’s war,” mainly referring to the camaraderie that took place between opposing sides when fighting was at a halt, life was hard for those soldiers,

both blue and gray.“The soldiers didn’t have it easy,”

Logue said. “They had bugs crawling in their hair. Their teeth were falling out because they had no dental hygiene. Their clothes were dirty and stinky.

They didn’t sleep. They were hungry, thirsty and homesick. There was noth-ing glamorous about it. But, that’s the life of a soldier.”

While the park, a time capsule of Vicksburg’s surrender, depicts the hard-

The Illinois Memorial has 47 steps, rep-resenting the number of days during the Siege of Vicksburg.

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ships of soldiers and civilians living in a besieged city, one aspect — the USS Cairo Museum — focuses on a Con-federate victory. The Union ironclad gunboat was sunk by underwater Con-federate torpedoes in 1862. The Cairo sat for 102 years on the bottom of the Yazoo River north of Vicksburg, where it was preserved by mud and silt. The boat was raised in 1964 and restored. Like a Confederate trophy, the iron-clad is now on display within the Vicks-

burg National Military Park. An adja-cent museum, built in 1980, displays objects that were found aboard and gives a glimpse into the sailors’ daily lives at sea.

“The Cairo is a national mechanical engineering landmark…It was a big coo for the Confederate Army,” Logue said. “It’s the only Union gunboat on display on Earth.”

The history of the Vicksburg Cam-paign goes beyond the acreage of the

A cannon overlooks battlefield dotted with blue tablets indicating where Union forces dug trenches.

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Vicksburg National Military Park. In fact, guided tours can be extended into Vicksburg’s greater historical area, which includes stops at museums, the historic downtown area and some churches.

“We study so much about the city,” Logue said of the licensed guides. “We really, really push for people to do the whole city.”

The southern section of the city, along what is now known as Mission 66 and Confederate Avenue, is dotted with memorials and monuments owned and maintained by the park, because it was actually once land that made up the military park. That land, however, was donated to Vicksburg to allow for growth in the 1960s. But, where cars now zoom past, soldiers once fought.

The 1,800 acres or three square miles that now make up the Vicksburg National Military Park nestle a large portion of the City of Vicksburg.

“Once you’ve done the entire battle-field, you’ve been on the outskirts of 75 percent of the city,” Logue said. “It’s a pretty massive area.”

The Vicksburg National Cemetery makes up 116 acres of the military park. It’s the resting place of 17,000 Civil War Union soldiers, which makes it the largest national cemetery. An additional

5,000 Confederate soldiers are buried within the city’s Cedar Hill Cemetery in an area called Soldier’s Rest.

Logue, like the other 19 licensed guides who give tours of the VNMP, has read numerous books charting the his-tory of the Civil War specific to what occurred on Vicksburg soil. Giving tours often transports Logue to that

place and time of which she so passion-ately speaks.

“After you’ve done this for so long, you do get that feeling — you can almost capture it in your head,” Logue said.

— Story & photos by Lauchlin Fields

The Union gunboat USS Cairo was reconstructed and is on display more than 100 years after it was sunk by Confederate gunfire.

The Alabama State Memorial depicts seven men from Alabama who are inspired by a woman who represents the state itself.

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Young Professionals First ImpressionsVicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce hosted a Business After Hours at Roca at the Vicksburg Country Club.

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Margie Heltzel and Lacey Chaney Lee arrive at the Business After Hours.Katrina Shirley and Katie Grey Ferrell draw names for door prizes.

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From left, Katie Grey Ferrell, Sirobe’ Carstafhnur and Katrina Shirley pose for a photo.

Mary Beth McCain, Kayla Hinson and John Robert Ward share a laugh.

From left, Sam Porter, Riley Nelson, J.R. Armstrong and Nathan Cummins.

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