Submarine Smuggling not a new concept...

If you haven't seen it yet, CNN reported this week that smugglers have turned to submarines in an effort to sneak drugs across the Gulf of Mexico and into the United States.

As novel as it might sound, this is not exactly a new idea. In true Southern tradition, moonshiners on the Mississippi River once used a homemade submarine to slip illegal whiskey to shore from a hidden island distillery. Powered by a Model T Ford engine, the little one man sub carried moonshine from Davis Island to shore during the early days of prohibition.

The Mississippi Moonshine Running Submarine is now a permanent exhibit at one of my favorite historic sites, Grand Gulf Military Monument near Port Gibson, Mississippi. The site of an important battle during the Civil War's Vicksburg Campaign, Grand Gulf was a significant community on the Mississippi River during antebellum times.

Floods and disease drove away most of the inhabitants, however, and most of what remained of the town was destroyed during the war. The park today preserves a fascinating array of historic sites and artifacts, including earthwork forts and entrenchments, historic structures... and the moonshine running submarine!

You can learn more about Grand Gulf Military Monument and its little known submarine by visiting www.exploresouthernhistory.com/grandgulf1.

Spring Travel Part Eleven: Grand Gulf Military Monument

Continuing our series on some of my favorite spring travel destinations in the South, we look today at Grand Gulf, Mississippi.

Visitors to the major battlefield at Vicksburg National Military Park in Mississippi often overlook another fascinating battlefield that is located less than one hour away.

Grand Gulf Military Monument, a state park just outside of Port Gibson, Mississippi, preserves the site of the Battle of Grand Gulf and the historic town of the same name.

An important preliminary episode of the Vicksburg Campaign, the Battle of Grand Gulf took place on April 29, 1863. Hoping to bombard the heavily fortified Confederate position into submission and open the way for the landing of General Grant's troops, the Union navy attacked Grand Gulf with massive firepower. The Confederate forts replied and for hours the two sides blasted each other in one of the heaviest bombardments of the war. Union ironclads and Confederate earthen batteries covered the Mississippi River with smoke and fire.

In the end, though, the Confederate forts held. Grant was forced to abandon his plans for a landing at Grand Gulf. Instead, he marched his men across country in Louisiana and crossed downstream at Bruinsburg. The move effectively flanked the Confederate position at Grand Gulf and the Southern troops withdrew to Vicksburg a short time later.

The park today preserves a series of earthwork forts, batteries and entrenchments, along with an array of historic structures. There is also a fascinating small museum. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/grandgulf1.