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.

Vicksburg National Military Park - Vicksburg, Mississippi

Over the next few days we will spend some time exploring Vicksburg, Mississippi, one of the most historic cities in the United States.

Vicksburg, of course, is home to the Vicksburg National Military Park, where Union and Confederate troops fought the Battle of Vicksburg, one of the largest and most significant battles in American history.

The massive Civil War battle was fought over miles of hills and ravines ringing the historic Southern city, as well as on the Mississippi River. Today, much of the battlefield is preserved at the national park, where visitors can explore earthwork forts, artillery batteries, tunnels, monuments and even a salvaged Civil War ironclad.

The photograph here shows the artillery display at the parking lot of the Visitor Center at Vicksburg National Military Park. The display gives visitors a chance to inspect the various types of cannon used during the siege and battle at Vicksburg.

Our look at Vicksburg will continue, but in the meantime you can read and see more by visiting our Vicksburg pages at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/Vicksburg.

Natural Bridge - Eureka Springs, Arkansas

This unique formation is one of several fascinating natural features at Pivot Rock Park in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.

Encompassing a large parcel of beautiful mountain country in the Ozarks, the park features the small natural bridge seen here, as well as Pivot Rock, the unusual formation that gives the park its name.

According to legend, this area was one of the hideouts of the notorious outlaw Jesse James and his gang.

To read more about Pivot Rock Park and other points of interest around Eureka Springs, please click here and look for the Eureka Springs heading.

The Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Alabama

The Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Alabama was one of the most significant military encounters in American history. Fought on March 27, 1814, the battle was the final major engagement of the Creek War of 1813-1814 and one of the most convincing American victories of the War of 1812.

The Creek War was an outgrowth of a civil war that had erupted among the Creek Nation in Alabama and Georgia. A branch of the nation, called the "Red Sticks" or "Red Clubs," became devoted followers of a religious movement headed by the Shawnee Prophet, Tenskwatawa. Led by the Alabama Prophet, Josiah Francis or Hillis Hadjo, the Red Sticks opened a war against the so-called "White Party" of the Creeks, led by the traditional leader of the nation, Big Warrior.

The war spilled over after a party of white militia attacked a Red Stick party carrying ammunition back to the nation from Pensacola at Burnt Corn Creek, Alabama, during the summer of 1813. The Red Sticks responded by attacking and capturing Fort Mims, a frontier stockade north of Mobile and killing hundreds of the men, women and children in the fort.

The Fort Mims attack outraged the frontier and U.S. armies advanced on the Red Sticks from three directions. The principal of these, commanded by Major General Andrew Jackson of Tennessee, pushed south into the Creek heartland fighting four major battles during the winter of 1813-1814. Jackson finally attacked the primary Red Stick stronghold at Tohopeka or "Horseshoe Bend" on March 27, 1814.

The Creeks had fortified the bend by erecting a strong wall across the narrow neck of land created by the looping course of the Tallapoosa River. The wall proved impervious to artillery fire from Jackson's army. The stalemate was broken when a party of Cherokee and "White Party" Creek warriors swam the river behind the Red Stick battlelines and brought back canoes to allow a force to attack the barricade from the rear.

When Jackson heard the sounds of this attack, he ordered his main army to charge and storm the barricade. Led by the 39th U.S. Infantry, the troops stormed forward in a bloody attack that forever broke the power of the Creek Nation in Alabama.

To learn more about the Battle of Horseshoe Bend and to experience an online tour of Horseshoe Bend National Military Park, please visit our Horseshoe Bend pages at: http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/AlabamaHSB.html.

Battle of Massard Prairie, Arkansas

The Massard Prairie Battlefield Park in Fort Smith is one of the newest preserved Civil War sites in Arkansas. Saved by the joint efforts of the City of Fort Smith, local citizens and local developers, the battlefield park protects key areas of the July 27, 1864, Battle of Massard Prairie.

The battle took place with Confederate troops, commanded by Gen. R.M. Gano, stormed the camp of a battalion of the 6th Kansas Cavalry in a stunning sunrise attack. Gano's commanding officer described the battle as a "dashing and gallant affair." The Confederates captured more than 100 Union soldiers, while killing and wounding numerous others in a fight that stretched for two miles across Massard Prairie, a large brushy grassland just outside of the 1864 city of Fort Smith.

The Prairie today is within the city limits and much of it has been developed for residential, commercial and industrial use (the Fort Smith Regional Airport is constructed on part of the original prairie). The battlefield park, however, preserves the site of the camp of the 6th Kansas where much of the heaviest fighting took place.

For more information, please visit our special section on the Battle of Massard Prairie at: http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/ArkansasCW4.html.