West Point Military Academy

The United States Military Academy at West Point, besides being the oldest military academy in our country, is also a national historic landmark.  I had been to the Academy in the early seventies, but Sid had never seen it, so it made the bucket list of places to see.

In many ways, it's just like any other military base, with an exchange and commissary and all the other facilities you find on an ordinary army post.  The difference here is the history. The Continental Army first occupied the site, Benedict Arnold tried to sell the fort to the British and Thomas Jefferson directed the establishment of West Point as a military academy.  Many of its graduates went on to serve on both the Union and Confederate sides of the Civil War and the academy has produced famous generals, presidents and even astronauts.

The post itself is sited on the eastern most point on the Hudson River and has beautiful views of the Hudson River.

View of the Hudson from the grounds of the Academy

One of the academic halls used by cadets

The architecture of most of the original buildings was described to me as military gothic.  Most of the older buildings were undergoing renovation while we were there, so they were generally covered with scafolding  and not picture worthy.  But they are build with gray and black granite and look like what you would think a fort would look like, turrets and all.s

The grounds are lovely, with many commemorative statues and monuments everywhere.  Surpisiningly, one of the monuments, the Army mule, sits on the street in the little town just outside one of the gates.

Recognizing the role the mule has played at West Point

We spent a bit of time in the cemetery, as well as the chapel, both of which are steeped in history.  Many well known alumni are buried her, including General George Custer.

Custer's marker

His wife insisted upon returning Custer's body from where is was originally buried near the Battle of the Little Bighorn.  She is interred next to him.

Interior of the new Cadet Chapel

Every bit as beautiful as the inside of the Air Force Academy chapel, many of the mandatory single cadets are married here right after graduation.

We also spent time in the West Point Musuem where they display an amazing amount of genuine military paraphenalia.

West Point museum

Overall, the Academy is pretty impressive.  Tours are not limited to those affiliated with our military, so if you ever are in the area, plan to spend a day checking out West Point.

Until next time...

A Battleground, A Cemetery and....a Boat?

One of Sid's top must-see items on this adventure was the city of Vicksburg.  Being a huge history buff, he has always wanted to see the place that played such a major role in the Civil War.  You cannot come to Vicksburg and not visit the National Military Park.

The park is easily viewed by car on a 16 mile route that roughly follows Union siege and Confederate defensive battle lines. All along the route are busts of commanders, plaques detailing individual battles and regiments, earthen forts and monuments erected after the war was over to commemorate the men who served and died.  Union plaques are blue and Confederate are red, so as you look out over the various battlefields you can envision just how close the fighting was.  Originally planned to have 1700 monuments, plaques, tablet and markers, there are currently over 1300 and it would literally take days to see, read or photograph each one.

A sampling of a very few of the monuments

The authorization to establish the park was passed in 1899, and a lot of the northern states started building them right away.  But the southern states had been harder hit, financially, and many had to wait several years before having the money to erect monuments.  Today, although I couldn't find and verification of this, it seemed to me that there were many more Union monuments than Confederate.  

There is only a single surviving structure in the park and that is the Shirley house.  Restored to its original appearance, the house was used by the Union army as a hospital. 

Front of Shirley house

Rear of Shirley house

Abandoned in 1864, the house was sold to the Federal government in 1900 by a daughter with the provision that the parents be buried on site.  Surprisingly, the government kept to the terms.

Shirley tomb

The Vicksburg National Cemetery is also on the grounds of the park and it was very moving to see.  Like any national cemetery, there are seemingly endless row of headstones (17,000 Union soldiers), some with names, but most without.

Rows and rows of graves

Known soldier

Unknown Soldier

Anonymous Soldier

When national cemeteries were established in 1867, the money allocated was allowed to be used only for burying the Union dead. This cemetery contains about 17,000 Union soldiers' remains.  Confederate soldiers were not allowed to be buried in national cemeteries and it was left to the families to reclaim the bodies of their dead.   I was really saddened to learn this and happy to know that this experience lead to many changes within our government on our treatment of American soldiers, from the wearing of dog tags to the observance of Memorial Day.

Also located within the park are the remains of an ironclad boat, the U.S.S. Cairo, notable for being the first boat ever sunk by a land mine.  She sunk in 12 minutes and, miraculously, no one died. Submerged from 1862 until 1964, it contained many wartime personal effects which can be seen in the museum.

Original timbers on the bow of the boat

Partially reconstructed, much of the original iron still exists

I know I've only skimmed the surface of what we saw, but I hope that each of you someday gets a chance to visit this national park.  The Civil War is a very important part of our history and this park does a very good job of telling its story.  The memorializing continues outside the confines of the park as well, with plaques and monuments all over the city.  

Until next time...

A Quick Stop in Louisiana

Reunions, done!  Family visits, done!  Cruise, done!  All of our scheduled obligations were finished and now we could go where we wanted, when we wanted.  And we wanted out of East Texas and the rain!  So off it was to Bossier City, LA where we planned to stay a few days at the Barksdale AFB famcamp to get some laundry done and stock up on supplies.  But we found time to do a bit of sightseeing, of course, even though it RAINED the entire time we were there.

Hoping for a little history on this visit

The Louisiana State Exhibit Museum is housed in a huge building, built in 1937, that is on the National Historic Register.

Front of museum

Aerial view of Louisiana State Exhibit Museum

Museum interior

The museum is completely free and is less about history and more about art and artifacts from around the state.  But the most interesting displays, to me, were the dioramas depicting the the life and commerce of Louisiana locals in the 1930s.  All the major industries that fueled the states' economy were represented in exacting detail.

Corn farming

Strawberry farming

Cotton farming

The dioramas were behind glass and very difficult to photograph.  These represent just a few of the industries showcased which also included hog farming, oil and gas, timber and paper industries.  Here are a couple of pics I found on the Internet that show a bit better.

It's really hard to show how beautiful these were and I hope you all have a chance to see them in person some day.

While in Shreveport, we also got a chance to see the "riverboat" casinos that we've heard about for so long. They don't look very much, if at all, like riverboats but more like standard Las Vegas mega casinos.  And got a glimpse of the "Once in a Millennium Moon" mural, one of the country's largest publicly funded art  installations.  No pictures due to the RAIN!

Of the 5 days we stayed in the Shreveport area, only one was good weather and sunny, so we took the opportunity take a drive to the Mansfield State Historic Site where the Rebels defeated the Union in the Red River Campaign in the spring of 1864.

Entry to the museum and battlefield

Sid with a cannon from the battle here

The museum had a collection of artifacts donated by families of soldiers involved in the conflict and it  is always more interesting to me to see items that are authentically accurate as opposed to "of the period."  The first item displayed, though not related to the Civil War at all, was this fireplace mantel.

Installed in the White House in 1902, it remained in the East Room for almost 50 years. 

The curator of the museum was very knowledgeable and got to telling us a lot about flags.  Did you know that the original Confederate flag was not the one we recognize and either revere or disparage today?

Original Confederate States of America flag

Square flags are battle flags and each regiment had their own design.

A preserved Confederate company battle flag

An original  Union company battle flag

Another artifact that caught my eye...

Belt buckle from a fellow New Yorker

We walked the trail of the battle lines where each regiments' location was marked with a plaque detailing the commanders, the highlights of the battle and the killed and wounded.  It;s always surprising to me how closely these battles were fought to one another and how accurately historians can pinpoint the locations.

Beginning of the battle line

Typical battle marker

Reenactments are a big deal at Civil War sites and this one has them throughout the year as well.  A cabin representative of the time period has been built on the grounds and is used during those events.

Cabin typical of the era

Cabin interior.  It's not much smaller than the space in which I'm currently living!

Battleground monuments

Historical marker

Add a few monuments and a historical marker and you've got yourself a typical Civil War Battlefield!  In no way belittling these historic sites, once you've seen one, you've pretty much seen them all.  They are extremely important to the history of our country and I'm forever thankful that people have had the foresight to preserve this history.  That said, we are planning to stop at more of them on our journey, but will probably focus more on the museums than the actual battlegrounds.

I seem to learn something I didn't know everywhere we stop (can you imagine that?), but I had to look this one up.

A dedication, but look a little closer...

Children of the Confederacy??

I've always heard of the Daughters of the Confederacy, but this was the first time I'd ever come across the Children of the Confederacy.  So I found out that there is, in fact, an actual organization to which descendants of men or women who served honorably in the Confederate Army can belong, from infancy to the age of eighteen.  Researching further, I discovered the Sons of Confederate Veterans organization.  So the Confederacy has got you covered from birth to death!

No relief from the RAIN, so we decided to call it quits in Louisiana and head to Mississippi.  There's got to be some sunshine somewhere!

Until next time...