Vicksburg Civil War Museum — Attraction in Vicksburg

We visited last week and I was enlightened by the events and what happened. I loved two specific things, overall.

One, all the the personal thoughts from both sides were posted inside the museum. This showed just how differently both sides were thinking, both having valid points and helped me understand why they were fighting. Even though I may have found myself siding more with one side over the other on thoughts, I could see why each side wanted to preserve what they knew for their way of life. Where was the middle ground in finding that balance? Not there then and still not there today.

There was so much content and elements I had never even heard of before. The fact they forced slaves into cages, covered their heads so they didn't know who they were being forced to procreate with, even with family members, treating them like animals, was another layer of appalling I had not known about.

Second, the owner did offer to answer any questions. When I didn't have any, he left me be to obsorb more info. When I did have a question, I saught him out and we launched into an amazing discussion of then and now. I LOVED having a non-polorized discussion of thoughts and mindset. Being Caucasion, it was a refreshing, great discussion, that is rarely encouraged these days. He mostly asked questions of how I see things to keep the discussion going. What I loved is that it did not push one way or other. Stayed in the middle, being able to see both sides of the fence. right and wrong on both sides.

I am very green on history so learning what I should have learned years ago was fantastic. BUT... what made this visit most memorable was the truely great, unbiased discussion with the owner and one of his helpers. They were not one sided at all and had valid points for both sides of the isle, then and now.

Fantasitc! Thanks guys for making this a...

I'm going to address this in two ways.

First the museum exhibits. Absolutely incredible. The space is a little tight for a bigger person carrying a backpack but not unmanageable. It is also pretty well laid out in and you can truly spend hours in there looking at everything and reading the placards. The analogy 100 pounds in a 10 pound sack seems fairly appropriate. I'd love to see the catalog documenting the articles that are in there because the collection itself is amazing.

Second, the owner. I read the negative reviews here and I can whole heartedly completely disagree with what they said about the owner. First off, try hard not to offend by twice as hard to not be offended. He's a joker, his words not mine. Yes, he said some stuff to me and my friend while we were there, poking fun at our ignorance, in a very joking manner. Sure, if you have thin delicate skin it might offend you and you might not want to go because there are exhibits in there that will almost certainly offend you. But, when I left there, for the second time that day, I felt like we were treated like family. Distant family, but family nonetheless. Charles is doing a service to the community by keeping the history at arms reach for everyone to see for a very reasonable price, and from what I understand, not because he has to but because he wants to.

If you want to learn some history about the war, share some stories, ask some serious questions, maybe laugh a little depending on how bad the jokes are, and see some things that you may not see anywhere else, this is definitely the place. My take away from the museum and its mission statement, put aside your worldview and your feelings towards this or that and look at the history for what it is. If I get back to Vicksburg, I'm stopping by again, I think I owe...

I enjoyed my brief visit to the museum today. I wish that I could’ve stayed longer to have a deeper conversation. In our brief interactions, the owner Charles seemed to me to be a kind and intelligent man, with an impressive collection worthy of the attention of any private collector. But it’s clear that his collection was built over time with care, purpose and passion, with focus given to deliberate arrangement of his artifacts. Some folks in the comments didn’t care for the focus on slavery. I found it tastefully and factually presented. In fact, if you look closely and read between the lines, as an example, his rebel/yankee quotes on the wall suggest a rebuke of both sides. I felt that his message was more about the humanity of the time, and to hold it up to us as a mirror (and this is the purpose of a museum, not to be an echo chamber). At least that was my interpretation; I hope to find out more next time I...