Les Flâneurs

Day 6 - Vicksburg

leg 4: 193 miles.
total: 1403 miles.

We left the Evans home a little after 9am. Ed and I go way back, back when we were both young and foolish and before he and Chris were married and that was 44 years ago. In fact, I knew both of them when they were single and largely unaware of each other, but that changed pretty fast and the rest is marital history. It's been nearly seven years since the four of us last hung out together and I'm hoping it won't be another seven before we meet again. . . .

With Chris' directions in hand for getting out of town and taking backroads in the direction of Vicksburg we made our way to Louisiana route 84 heading east. At Winnfield we turned north on US 167 to Ruston (where we had confronted the aftermath of a tornado on the 25th) and then turned back east, this time on I-20 for Vicksburg, MS.

We crossed the Mississippi into Mississippi (a unique distinction I should think) a little after noon and made our way directly to the battlefield park, the entrance of which was located directly across from our hotel for the evening. This was the first time we got to use our Senior Citizen's park pass, and we reveled in that moment for about 30 seconds.

After a brief stop at the visitor's center we grabbed the driving tour guide map and hit the road. The drive covers some 17 miles along which are some 1,400 monuments, memorials, tablets and sculptures. An incredible sculpture garden. (Sadly, the Rhode Island monument had fallen over as the result of a recent downed tree.) You can learn more about the major monuments right here.

Minnesota:

Michigan:

The Illinois monument off in the distance

Memorial to Union General John A. Logan:

along the drive

the "white house," Union headquarters during the siege

Illinois:

view from the Illinois monument

detail of the Wisconsin memorial

African-American monument:

The Navy Monument: surrounded by four larger than life statues of the key Naval officers who were instrumental in defeating the confederates on the water.

David Dixon Porter

David Glasgow Farragut

Andrew Hull Foote

Charles Henry Davis

The USS Cairo Museum is located about midway along the tour and directly across from the national cemetery. The replica outside under the large tent is actually built on the ship's remains which were recovered from the Yazoo, where it sunk during the war, many years after the war.

Leaving the museum we walked across the road to the national cemetery. I was on the hunt for the grave of Charles Soule.

Charles was born about 1845 in Michigan, the son of Benjamin (1810-1876) and Alzina or Alvina (1816-1868) and the brother of Harrison Soule, born about 1842 in Michigan. Both men enlisted in the 3rd Michigan Infantry.

Charles was taken prisoner on November 30, 1863 at Mine Run, Virginia, and sent to Andersonville, Georgia. Charles was struck down by dysentery and admitted to the prison hospital on March 24, 1865 with chronic diarrhea. He was exchanged on March 26, and admitted to McPherson hospital in Vicksburg, Mississippi from Camp Parole on April 7. Charles died in the hospital on April 20, 1865 and was buried in Vicksburg National Cemetery: section I, grave 7429.

Note, the cemetery is laid out on a series of stepped hills and many of the sections -- arranged by letter and then sequential grave number -- are not clearly marked if at all. Also, you will need to go to the USS Cairo Museum to ask about specific burials. They can provide you with maps -- also not very good -- and give you the general sense of where to look.

His three brothers James, Warren and Harrison all died during the war, as did two sisters, Martha and Olive. One brother, Wilbur, survived. Not long after the cemetery we came across this spectacular view across what used to be the Mississippi into Louisiana and is now dominated by the Yazoo diversion canal (Big Muddy having changed course long ago).

The Missouri (Union and Confederate) monument:

Monument to Confederate Brigadier General Lloyd Tilghman:

After leaving the park we drove across the street and checked in to our hotel. Once we dropped our things off we made our way in to downtown Vicksburg. As we drove around we were both struck by the singular fact that this was a town that lacked the verve, the energy, the life that seemed to be everywhere in Natchitoches.

Also we found ourselves hard-pressed to find someplace to eat. We finally settled on Anthony's at the Vicksburg Country Club. Nice staff, good service and the food was Ok but largely underwhelming.

Next it's off to Oxford, MS for lunch and then a night Corinth, MS before moving on to Shiloh Battlefield in Tennessee. Don't touch that channel!

Day 4 - Natchitoches

leg 3: 328 miles.
total: 1210 miles.

We left Little Rock at about 9am making our way to I-30 and I-530 south. We passed the exit to Texarkhana and continued south to the exit for US 167. Our goal for the day was Natchitoches (“Naka-tish”) and the Evans family.

The plan was to stay on US167 all the way to Natchitoches and for the first few hours that worked just fine. The road was fine, pretty much four-lane the whole way. We even stopped briefly in Bernice for a quick photo.

The day was gorgeous: sunny, not too warm and just downright pleasant. That is until we reached Ruston, LA, just across the line from Arkansas.

The night before a tornado had swept through the city leaving a swath of destruction in its wake and we were caught in a traffic snarl as everyone sought to negotiate getting around the emergency vehicles and the governor’s entourage. Susan eventually found a way for us to skirt the congestion and get us on I-20 west to Shreveport, forgoing our route on US167.

damage in a shopping center

From Shreveport — a city that seemed dominated by gambling enterprises — we took I-49 south eventually exiting at Natchitoches. Three minutes later we pulled into Mr. Ed Lane and the home of Ed and Chris Evans, our home for the next two days.

Soon after arriving our friends drove us into town for a late lunch at a local eatery: Lasyone’s (“Lah-zee-ohns”) where I was treated for birthday meal. Their specialty was meat pies, rather like the cornish pasties made famous in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Anyway, we all split one for an appetizer and I had red beans rice and sausage for my meal. Delicious!

After lunch we strolled around the old part of the city along what was once the main channel of the Red River and now a lovely, peaceful backwater so to speak.

That evening we enjoyed more local cuisine with a bowl of gumbo and rice prepared at home, washed down with a bottle of California cabernet.

Ed Evans

Day 5 - Natchitoches

April 26, Natchitoches, Louisiana and the southern plantation.

After a leisurely breakfast the four of us -- Susie, Ed, Chris et moi -- piled in to the Evans' car and headed out of town. Our first stop was the antebellum Melrose Plantation, just a few miles away. Besides its unique place in local history, the plantation played a key role in the development of regional artists, especially Clementine Hunter. For more of the history of this evocative bit of land visit the website.

For me, the tour Melrose and our visit later that day to Oakland plantation, a national park located on a bend in the Cane River, were especially enlightening. So much of southern plantation life, especially in the years leading up to the civil war, has been mythologized through books and movies, such as "Gone with the Wind." The self-sustaining, self-sufficient way of life of the plantation, a way of life that indeed relied on the horrific foundation of slavery, required everyone to play their part or otherwise their world would crumble away. As indeed, it eventually did.

It was a complex and complicated way of life and the decades after the civil war would bring changes that none could foresee. Needless to say it is a revelation to walk these grounds today.

Oh, and the live oaks covered with Resurrection Ferns are absolutely fantastic!

For lunch we returned to in Natchitoches and stopped at Ribfin's, a small chain of BBQ joints in Louisiana. Tasty food and washed down with local beer.

After a short nap at home (for me) we headed back out mid-afternoon to Oakland plantation, followed up by a stop at the Cane River Commissary for a drink and appetizer. (Most plantations had "commissaries," which served as the general store for the locals.)

Along the way we stopped at Little Eva's pecan house where Susan bought a 5-lb bag to take home. While we had seen orchards of all types before, pecan orchards were quite unique: huge trees each separated by a large swath of space. Some orchards were arranged in neat, orderly rows and others the trees were scattered randomly with no rhyme or reason.

We eventually made our way home and later that evening had a scrumptious meal of pizza from nearby Peggy's Pizza paired with a crisp, refreshing salad compliments of Chris.