"The Widow Blakely" at Vicksburg

A few shots of a rifled cannon used to block Union traffic from using the Mississippi river:


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Mind you, river vessels can run a big larger these days!


Also visited the remains of Grant's Canal, which was a failed attempt to avoid having to run the Confederate blockade.

I was there in about '64 when they brought up the U.S.S. Cairo, a Union ironclad torpedoed and sunk on the Mississippi, from the river bottom. I am one of the few who ever stood on her bridge. We climbed all over her engines and boilers as well. She's in a nearby park now. We were actually there to visit the sternwheeler riverboat Sprague. The remains of the Cairo were on the wharf..

http://www.vac-u-boat.com/Old_River_...s/sprague3.jpg

Bob

Have visited the Cairo on previous trips. This time we went across the river to see the remains of "Grant's Canal". Not too much preserved, but you can see the unprotected portion running through cultivated land to a levee.


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Interstate highway cuts right across ithe canal bed just outside the tiny park boundaries. it's not like the couldn't have run the bridgeworks just a bit further!


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Just missed it! The canal remains on the far side of the Interstate highway are in this field, just behind the tree...Probably should have stopped, but a big vehicle was following on the two lane road.