It was very evident on my first trip to the town of Vicksburg and its battlefield that something was not right here. It was 160 years ago that a sizable portion of the community perished defending their beliefs. But a dismal atmosphere hangs in the air today.
But shouldn’t that defeat wear off after a while. Not here. The populous was punished for fighting back. They could not be beaten in battle, so Grant starved them to death with a siege. Then they were trounced into the ground for their impertinence.
After they killed all the men, and the usual misuse of the women; 5000 permanent troops were stationed in the town, This allowed the carpetbaggers of the East to dismantle the ownership of the hard assets and all the land. Some amount of land was given to former slaves to cover the abusive land grabs. No one could stop this rape of Vicksburg. It was planned by experts whose predecessors had perfected the practice since Babylonian times.
Defeat remains on the faces of the people and the town has very few updates since the slaughter. It is a dismal and disheartening place to be. We moved on after our tour so as not to be overcome by the sense of abandonment that still persists.
Another town down river never suffered like this. It is the town of Natchez. Its residents had come from New York and the East. They were savvy to the oncoming marauders and their after clients. They knew how to plead for the survival of their homes and town. Consequently they were not burned out and had a prosperous war by comparison.
The whole idea of war is wasteful. But I guess each person must decide for themselves whether to stand up for their honor, or curb their own preferences and eke out some form of survival. No one can answer this question for you. And I am not sure which way is correct, because so much hidden collusion exists in our world.
We can only hope that we will not be pressed with answering this question. But hope is not a very good plan.