Civil War towns of the Old South

30 January, Oxford. MS.

Our detour into northern Mississippi was initially brought about by the freak snow and ice storm that hit the South a couple of days back. As strange as it may seem, it has been easier to travel north rather than south in the states of Mississippi and Alabama. So here we are in a seldom visited corner of the Old South, not too far south of the Tennessee state line. Just over that border, around Shiloh, the first large scale battle of the Civil War was fought in 1862. Over 100,000 soldiers faced off at Shiloh and after two days, when it was all over, around 25,000 were dead or wounded.

 

After the battle, what was left of the Confederate army retreated south to Corinth which was situated at the junction of two strategic railway lines. Eventually, after savage house to house fighting, the Union forces occupied the town and Corinth’s moment in the historical limelight was over as the action moved further south towards Vicksburg.

Today little Corinth does a great job of keeping its history alive with a well-equipped Interpretive Centre and a CD-guided drive through the main battle sites and associated places of interest. Perhaps the saddest sight is the War Cemetery on the edge of the town. Five thousand Civil War troops are buried here, along with several thousand veterans of America's many other conflicts. More than three thousand of the Civil War graves are of unknown soldiers.

 

Our motel for tonight, in Oxford, is just off the 1837 Town Square, a classic piece of Americana -complete with a central Courthouse surrounded by trees and a park. You expect Pollyanna to come dancing out any moment. Our choice of such a central location, rather than our usual 'highway junction specials' is that it is Janita's birthday and we are going to one of the little restaurants on the square. Oxford is a University town, so there is a good chance that the restaurants will stay open past 6:00pm! And, unlike some other counties in Mississippi, Laffette County is not DRY!

Later....

After a great dinner in downtown Oxford, we have retired to our motel to enjoy a birthday champagne. Tip. Don’t buy champagne from an old Korean woman in a small town in Mississippi!  Ever seen a screw top champagne bottle?

 

Live and learn.

 

31 January, Jackson, MS.

Tick off one more Great American Highway Drive. The Natchez Trace Parkway runs from Nashville, TN, to Natchez, MS, passing through parts of Alabama. The “Trace” comes from the French verb “tracier”, meaning to follow. That is just what the early traders and explorers did, following Indian trails and the paths of the various animals, including buffalo, that migrated through this area. As early as the 1700’s, travellers tramped this path, until, by the early 1800’s it had become a well-defined track meandering the 444 miles from the banks of the Mississippi to Nashville. Throughout the early 19^th century, farmers from the Ohio valley floated their livestock and cash crops down the Mississippi River to Natchez or New Orleans, where they sold their goods and their rough wooden floatboats and walked or rode back home along the “Trace”. Over the years, heavy traffic on areas of softer soil created sunken areas that have survived to this day.

 

The Parkway is a leisurely and scenic way to traverse some parts of Mississippi that are perhaps not the most attractive parts of the country, particularly in winter, when the winter-bare trees leave some of the ugliness of this fairly poor part of the South exposed. Wrecked cars, farm machinery and piles of rubbish around the numerous trailer parks along some roads, we happily trade for the slow pace of the tree-lined Parkway on a sunny, warmer (8C) winter’s day.

 

We have a bit of a bizarre connection with Jackson Mississippi. One of our favourite country songs, Uneasy Rider, by Charlie Daniels features a bar in Jackson called the Dew Drop Inn. Sadly, all our efforts to find the bar have failed! The gist of the story is that a hippy guy gets a flat outside the bar and has to deal with the ‘red neck’ locals. It’s a hoot! Google or Spotify it.