that these dead have not died in vain, or have theyDec 12, 2010
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| That you are receiving this note means that my attempt to get my satellite internet system with Hughes.net up and running is working. With this dish, modem and subscription, I can reach the internet from any place in the continental USA. The message out to about 25,000 miles and bouncing back to you originates from near Port Gibson, MS, at the site of a once-populous town called 'Grand Gulf, Mississippi.' The 'gulf' refers to a whirlpool caused by the force of the river at a turn at a point known at Rock Point on the Mississippi side. The town of Grand Gulf prospered so that by the early 1800s it had as many of a dozen paddle-wheelers docking to deliver passengers and take on cotton each week. At one time, Grand Gulf was considered a candidate for Mississippi's capital. A yellow fever epidemic, tornado, immense flood and US Grant changed all that. All that is left now are long-eroded-and-filled gun emplacements and rifle pits that once made Grand Gulf and its Fort Wade and Fort Coburn a commanding position on the Mississippi River. The museum here at the Grand Gulf Military Park (established only a couple of decades ago), seven miles north of Port Gibson, MS, has an early photo of brothers Will and John, both of whom were recruited and served from hereabouts in the Confederate forces in the War Between the States. John survived the war, says the placard below their photos, while his brother Will was killed at Gettysburg. While Will's body bloated in the heat of early July Pennsylvania, their beloved neighborhood was devastated by the forces of General U. S. Grant. Grant, having been unsuccessful in his attack on Vicksburg from the north, whereby he had hoped to command the entire Mississippi, dividing the Confederacy, had transported his troops across the river and marched them south through the Louisiana swamps and roadways to a plantation near Port Gibson at Bruinsburg. Ferrying his forces back to the east side of the river, Grant assaulted and captured Forts Wade and Coburn at Grand Gulf, on his way to his victory at Vicksburg. The Confederate forces had dug gun emplacements at and around Grand Gulf, named Fort Wade and Fort Coburn. In the rifle pits sharpshooters from Arkansas, as well as Mississippi and Missouri artillery units behind ramparts commanded the Mississippi south of Vicksburg. On a late spring night in 1863, the very mobile artillery units of the Confederacy allowed the Federal gunboats under Admiral Porter to pass from the north, but opened a barrage of fire on the paddle-wheel transports the iron-clads were conveying before the Federals could maneuver around to return fire. With their damage inflicted, the artillery units quickly moved out of sight and range of the gunboats. Despite the commitment of the Confederate infantry and artillery, the end was inevitable. The Federal iron-clads bombarded Grand Gulf to its surrender. The Confederate troops destroyed their own ammunition magazine when defeat could not be avoided and then skedaddled, leaving the town devastated, never to be re-constructed. Not long after, in early July, 1863, Grant subdued Vicksburg, and during that same time brother Will was cut down at Gettysburg. Over the blood Will spilled, President Lincoln spoke briefly much later that 'the world would little note, nor long remember' what was said by Lincoln, but none would forget 'what they have done here.' In a case in the museum, next to the one with Will and John's photos, is a copy of the crew listing of the US Tuscombia, a Federal gunboat in the Battle of Grand Gulf. In the listing are notations of the several sailors who died here from the canon fire from Forts Wade or Coburn or the guns in the bluff above Grand Gulf. I did not see a similar listing of the Confederate dead killed here but there is no doubt that there were many. For what did these men from both sides die? Toward what were their lives laid down that could compare to the loss of their families? It was not to preserve the town and residents of Grand Gulf because here 147 years later, there is nothing left of the once progressive and productive community. Here there is only a cemetery, with residents as well as warriors from both sides, interred. Here one can still see what the signs identify as earthwork gun emplacements and rifle pits. Another sign labels the pit identified as the ammunition magazine destroyed by its owners when surrender was inevitable. Judging from the obvious 'caste' of fellow shoppers at the Piggly Wiggly (when was the last time you were offered pig's feet or pig tails wrapped in celophane?) where we re-supplied our larder for the trip, the condition of neither 'negras' nor 'crackers' has much improved. Even the severely neglected condition of this Military Park testifies to the futility of anyone serving under arms. Lincoln was wrong about none forgetting 'what they have done here.' Hardly anyone remembers what was risked here, nor what was gained. I doubt that even survivors like John long remembered why this violence was so important, why his brother's death was the price paid. |
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