The Duff Green Manor Inn is, well, it's difficult to transmit our first impression. Amazing, unreal, gob-smacking, all of the above? It's a true antebellum manor (JUST antebellum, built 1856) that was spared the Union bombardment because, after about 4 cannon balls crashed into it, the owner declared it a hospital (which it was the remainder of the conflict). 16 foot high ceilings, beds that require step stools to get in, beautiful wooden floors. It's quite spectacular. You should come - SOON. The owners (Harley and Rick, husband and wife) have been here about a year and the price is sure to go up. At present, I am lounging in the shade by the pool. Very nice.
After breakfast, we got a tour from David, an employee here. The house remained a hospital until 1867, when the last of the injured were good enough to move. Vicksburg fell July 4, 1863, and the war ended in 1865. This was a strategic place on the Mississippi and the last Confederate strong point. Taking it basically cut the Confederacy in half (separating it West from East) and spelled the beginning of the end.
David was a very soft-spoken but equally un-apologetic Southerner. He pointed out that slavery was not a clear-cut issue (a couple of times, he slipped in stories about free black slave owners in Vicksburg) and that the war wasn't really about slavery. He told us that after the Union victory, black Union troops were left in control of some of the town, and looted/pillaged. He said that reconstruction was a fiasco, punitive to the South, and was responsible for lots of bad stuff later. He did say that the Lincoln assassination was terrible for the South, as Lincoln would have been much better at reconciliation than Johnson.
After the tour, we went to the official National Park Service Civil War site. We watched the video that seemed quite skewed to the Union. Complete with stories of reconstruction set to inspiring music, saying the reconstruction of Vicksburg, aided by those black soldiers, was a model for the reconstruction of the South in general.
So, we saw history from both sides! I was feeling the same type of anger at David that I did toward a Dresden resident who was lambasting the US for the carpet-bombing of the city when I visited there. "Did you ever stop to think there were REASONS for it?
1) the economic structure in the South was perpetuating something really bad
2) the South started the war
3) the South stopping!"
Yes, the North was not angelic, was plenty racist, etc. None of that excused the South's treatment of slaves.
Oh yeah, and the Confederate soldiers were pretty good at looting TOO!
Oh yeah, and if you had been a slave and persecuted, what do you think YOU would do to your oppressors?
Anyway, I thought the National Park rendition could have done a better job in showing the clear bravery and suffering of the people of Vicksburg, as well as not portraying Reconstruction as a success!
We saw something else at the Vicksburg battlefield. There was a troop of black Union re-enactors, depicting the 3rd Colored Cavalry that was one of the black units fighting here. They spoke very proudly of what that meant to the soldiers. It was one of the first times they had been trusted in battle, and they apparently succeeded in some situations where white troops had failed several times. People thought they would turn and run, but it was the Confederate troops that retreated when they saw they were up against a very determined unit. One of the re-enactors spoke at great length (and I mean, of GREAT length - he wouldn't stop) about how we all should look to the future, not the past. He pointed out the Negro Monument on the battlefield, that depicts three blacks: a slave looking backwards (the past), an injured soldier looking down (the present) and another soldier looking forward (the future). He liked the third guy. We went and saw that monument after that, and were very moved.
So, history... There are lots of histories. Of the same incident. All valid as far as they go, and then with some very distorted ideas based on what they wish were true. I can certainly see that in my reactions. I am a little scared, however, by the vigor of the feelings I felt here. There was a certain amount of "of course we're better off as a Union now" from David, but you weren't completely sure he meant it. I feel a geographical divide sometimes in this country, and this trip doesn't necessarily make me feel better about it. There's a lot of military around here, too.
On the subject of monuments, there are LOTS of them at Vicksburg! The states of Illinois and Ohio must have 100 each. We couldn't make it around to the most impressive (Mississippi and Missouri, the latter having two - one for the Union and one for the Confederacy) - we just ran out of steam. Also, we were hoping to be looking down on the river from the heights of the battlefield, but there are lots of trees! We looked for some of the monuments of Maddy's ancestors (an Indiana cavalry regiment, and an Ohio infantry regiment) but could not track them down. We found the New Hampshire one (they only had one, more sensible) and moved on.
Vicksburg is well worth visiting. And, if you do visit, stay at the Duff Green Mansion!
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