Deep South - Day 3



Messiah Lutheran Sanctuary

Rule #3 of Hicks’ family vacations:  If it’s Sunday, you should be in church.  We call ourselves Lutherdists due to the fact that Ross is a PK of the Lutheran persuasion and I am a child of the Methodist persuasion.  Both religions are born out of the philosophy of grace which is our common ground.  This Sunday, we hunted down the only Missouri Synod Lutheran Church in Vicksburg, Mississippi – Messiah Lutheran on Cain Ridge Road.

We arrived with an elderly couple who were opening the door and learned it was Lay Sunday because the church was “in between” pastors.  The service was simple, short and the congregation friendly.  Including the four of us, we counted 14 sitting in the church pews.  There were several good singers and the organist knew how to coax a good strong melody out of the organ.


Illinois Monument

After the service, the entire congregation met us in the narthex to shake our hand and introduce themselves.  One woman was part of the original 1950 congregation and her picture was hanging in the narthex standing by her twin sister.  Another woman was a frequent visitor to town who enjoyed worshiping at Messiah when she was there.  And finally, at the end of the group of greeters, a young father of three, wandered up and shook my hand. 

“Will you be visiting Vicksburg Military Park this afternoon?” he asked.  “Yessir,” I said.  “Did you request a tour guide at about 1:00 p.m.?” he asked.  “Why yes I sure did,” I said catching on to where he was headed. 

“I’m your tour guide!” “Are you our tour guide?” we both said in unison. 


"Old Abe" - Wisconson Infantry

I’m a firm believer that God’s hand guides all good things.  Vicksburg is one of two civil war battlefields that have tour guides who have been certified by the federal government – the other being Gettysburg.  They ride in your car and take you through the park for a small fee that depends on the size of your vehicle.  It’s a great way to learn about the park – but a little intrusive.  God saved us from awkwardness, established some common ground between us and a stranger, and we were rewarded for going to church!

Vicksburg Military Park contains 16 miles of tour road where numerous red and blue markers define

Blown to Freedom

the spots where regiments camped, advanced and died in one of the bloodiest campaigns of the war.  BB, our tour guide, regaled us with stories of Grant’s horse named Kangaroo, Orion Howe, the 14-year-old son of a Union soldier that dodged and darted an impossible trail of bullets to inform the rear lines that more ammunition was needed at the front, “Old Abe” the eagle who was the Wisconsin infantry’s mascot and good luck charm, the confederatecamel that made a bunch of money for his owners when he got shot, and the slave who was “literally” blown several hundred feet in the air to freedom.

Vicksburg Battlefield

A student of General Grant, he also told us the very interesting relationship between Grant, known for getting a little “into his cups” and General John Rawlins, the teetotaler who allegedly got Grant to promise not to drink again until after the war was won.  BB led us through the Illinois monument, the Shirley farmhouse, the museum where the warship Cairo is restored and preserved, and several of the prominent fights of the siege of Vicksburg.  We learned much during the 2 hours we rode with BB.  He was able to describe for us the scene the war painted along with some terrific character studies of not just the leaders, but several of the soldiers involved. 

Still Commissioned Cairo Warship

Touring battlegrounds isn’t always on the list of top things to do for most people.  I believe it is important to actually see the battlefields that we learn about in our history books.  Observing with your own eyes the significance of the “space” of a battlefield and reading about the space are two entirely different things.  Running through the campaigns while driving the actual geography helps history make sense.  You can see the challenge that was laid before the Union army.  You can quickly understand why Vicksburg was so difficult to conquer.  It’s a great battlefield and worth the stop for anyone interested in learning more about the civil war.

After we said goodbye to BB who left our car to hop inside a huge tour bus, we headed south on  Highway 61 toward Natchez and the first of our VRBO stays.  But before we got there, we took one side trip to see the ruins of Windsor Plantation just a little west of Alcorn State University.

The ruins are only a few miles east of the river in Mississippi backwoods country where you can

Loess Bluff on Natchez Trace

really see the effects of a weird kind of soil.  It is called loess (pronounced “low-ess” by the locals and “luss” by those who honor the word’s French heritage).  This soil is common on the Natchez Trace and in Vicksburg and creates the characteristic hills of the area.  A quick visit with a ranger at the visitor’s center helped us pronounce and describe this phenomena.

I first ran across the name in Deep South by Nevada Barr.  Anna Pigeon runs aground in this soil on her very first day in Mississippi.  Loess is a low-clay, low-sand soil that is essentially compressed dust.  The soil type is common to the area and only found in a few locations throughout the world.

Drawing Windsor Plantation

Out in these eroding loess hills and standing in the middle of a pasture, stand the ruins of Windsor Plantation.  The only remaining picture of the plantation in existence is a sketch found by historians from Henry Otis Dwight, an officer in Grant’s army in 1991.  Dwight’s drawing was the first one found by a person who actually had seen the plantation with his own eyes.  The plantation was owned and built by Smith Coffee Daniell II, a

Windsor Ruins

successful cotton farmer who died weeks after completing the construction.  It survived through the civil war only to be burned down in 1890 by a careless guest who dropped a cigarette.

Windsor is also a literary site.  Mark Twain gazed out at the Mississippi from the roof of the building and wrote about it in his book, “Life on the Mississippi.”  Mr. Clemons is one of my favorite authors – right up there with Miss Austin.  This ruins holds a special place in my heart.


VRBO #655774

From there, we connected again with Highway 61 and continued south to the Tinmann Retreat.  This cabin in the woods is located just outside of Knoxville, Mississippi in the heart of the Homochitto National Forest. 

The cabin is about 4.5 miles down a dirt road and it is wonderful.  Owned by Ken and Beth Andermann as a place where they can invite friends and guests, Ken and Beth greeted us at the door with an offering of warm banana bread and immediately connected with both boys.  Ken spent a little time telling us about the area, shortcuts to Natchez and making sure we were comfortable.  I love the south.