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Vicksburg National Military Park (83)
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Image by Ken Lund
Vicksburg National Military Park preserves the site of the American Civil War Battle of Vicksburg, waged from May 18 to July 4, 1863. The park, in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and Delta, Louisiana, also commemorates the greater Vicksburg Campaign, which preceded the battle. Reconstructed forts and trenches evoke memories of the 47-day siege that ended in the surrender of the city. Victory here and at Port Hudson gave the United States control of the Mississippi River.

A little known fact about the Vicksburg National Military Park is that, because it was paid for by the Federal Government, all of the Union Monuments were paid for by the US Government. The Confederate states however, were not Federally funded and their representation in the park is the direct result of years of fund raising and multiple benefits. Though the park is located in the South, the Federal Government did not give equal monetary donations to the Union and Confederacy, thus leaving the South to their own devices as far as money was concerned.

The park includes 1,325 historic monuments and markers, 20 miles (32 km) of historic trenches and earthworks, a 16-mile (26 km) tour road, two antebellum homes, 144 emplaced cannons, restored gunboat USS Cairo (sunk on December 12, 1862, on the Yazoo River, recovered successfully in 1964), and the Grant's Canal site, where the Union army attempted to build a canal to let their ships bypass Confederate artillery fire. The Cairo, also known as the "Hardluck Ironclad," was the first U.S. ship in history to be sunk by a torpedo/mine. It was raised in 1964. The Illinois State Memorial has 47 steps, one for every day Vicksburg was besieged.

The remnants of Grant's Canal, a detached section of the military park, are located across from Vicksburg near Delta, Louisiana. Union Army Major General Ulysses S. Grant ordered the project, started on June 27, 1862, as part of his Vicksburg Campaign, with two goals in mind. The first was to alter the course of the Mississippi River in order to bypass the Confederate guns at Vicksburg. For various technical reasons the project failed to meet this goal. The river did change course by itself on April 26, 1876. The project met its second goal, keeping troops occupied during the laborious maneuvering required to begin the Battle of Vicksburg.

The national military park was established on February 21, 1899, to commemorate the siege and defense of Vicksburg. The park sprawls over 1,800 acres (7.3 km2) of land. The park and cemetery were transferred from the War Department to the National Park Service (NPS) on August 10, 1933. Of the park's 1,736.47 acres (not including the cemetery), 1,729.63 acres (6.9996 km2) are federally owned.

In the late 1950s, a portion of the park was transferred to the city as a local park in exchange for closing local roads running through the remainder of the park. It also allowed for the construction of Interstate 20. The monuments in land transferred to the city are still maintained by the NPS. As with all historic areas administered by the NPS, the park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. Over a million visitors visit the park every year.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicksburg_National_Military_Park

The Siege of Vicksburg was the final major military action in the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. In a series of maneuvers, Union Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his Army of the Tennessee crossed the Mississippi River and drove the Confederate army of Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton into the defensive lines surrounding the fortress city of Vicksburg, Mississippi.

When two major assaults (May 19 and May 22, 1863) against the Confederate fortifications were repulsed with heavy casualties, Grant decided to besiege the city beginning on May 25. With no re-enforcement, supplies nearly gone, and after holding out for more than forty days, the garrison finally surrendered on July 4. This action (combined with the capitulation of Port Hudson on July 9) yielded command of the Mississippi River to the Union forces, which would hold it for the rest of the conflict.

The Confederate surrender following the siege at Vicksburg is sometimes considered, when combined with Gen. Robert E. Lee's defeat at Gettysburg the previous day, the turning point of the war. It also cut off communication with Confederate forces in the Trans-Mississippi Department for the remainder of the war. The city of Vicksburg would not celebrate Independence Day for about eighty years as a result of the siege and surrender as well.

After crossing the Mississippi River south of Vicksburg at Bruinsburg and driving northeast, Grant won battles at Port Gibson and Raymond and captured Jackson, the Mississippi state capital, in mid-May 1863, forcing Pemberton to withdraw westward. Attempts to stop the Union advance at Champion Hill and Big Black River Bridge were unsuccessful. Pemberton knew that the corps under Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman was preparing to flank him from the north; he had no choice but to withdraw or be outflanked. Pemberton burned the bridges over the Big Black River and took everything edible in his path, both animal and plant, as he retreated to the well-fortified city of Vicksburg.

The Confederates evacuated Hayne's Bluff, which was occupied by Sherman's cavalry on May 19, and Union steamboats no longer had to run the guns of Vicksburg, now being able to dock by the dozens up the Yazoo River. Grant could now receive supplies more directly than the previous route, which ran through Louisiana, over the river crossing at Grand Gulf and Bruinsburg, then back up north.

Over three quarters of Pemberton's army had been lost in the two preceding battles and many in Vicksburg expected General Joseph E. Johnston, in command of the Confederate Department of the West, to relieve the city—which he never did. Large masses of Union troops were on the march to invest the city, repairing the burnt bridges over the Big Black River; which Grant's forces crossed on May 18. Johnston sent a note to his general, Pemberton, asking him to sacrifice the city and save his troops, something Pemberton would not do. (Pemberton, a Northerner by birth, was probably influenced by his fear of public condemnation if he abandoned Vicksburg).

As the Union forces approached Vicksburg, Pemberton could put only 18,500 troops in his lines. Grant had over 35,000, with more on the way. However, Pemberton had the advantage of terrain and fortifications that made his defense nearly impregnable. The defensive line around Vicksburg ran approximately 6.5 miles, based on terrain of varying elevations that included hills and knobs with steep angles for an attacker to ascend under fire. The perimeter included many gun pits, forts, trenches, redoubts, and lunettes. The major fortifications of the line included Fort Hill, on a high bluff north of the city; the Stockade Redan, dominating the approach to the city on Graveyard Road from the northeast; the 3rd Louisiana Redan; the Great Redoubt; the Railroad Redoubt, protecting the gap for the railroad line entering the city; the Square Fort (Fort Garrott); a salient along the Hall's Ferry Road; and the South Fort.

Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Union Army of the Tennessee brought three corps to the battle: the XIII Corps, under Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand; the XV Corps, under Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman; and the XVII Corps, under Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson.

Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton's Confederate Army of Mississippi inside the Vicksburg line consisted of four divisions, under Maj. Gens. Carter L. Stevenson, John H. Forney, Martin L. Smith, and John S. Bowen.

Grant wanted to overwhelm the Confederates before they could fully organize their defenses and ordered an immediate assault against Stockade Redan for May 19. Troops from Sherman's corps had a difficult time approaching the position under rifle and artillery fire from the 36th Mississippi Infantry, Brig. Gen. Louis Hébert's brigade—they had to negotiate a steep ravine protected by abatis and cross a six-foot deep, eight-foot wide ditch before attacking the 17-foot high walls of the redan. This first attempt was easily repulsed. Grant ordered an artillery bombardment to soften the defenses and at about 2 p.m., Sherman's division under Maj. Gen. Francis P. Blair tried again, but only a small number of men were able to advance even as far as the ditch below the redan. The assault collapsed in a melee of rifle fire and hand grenades lobbing back and forth.

The failed Federal assaults of May 19 damaged Union morale, deflating the confidence the soldiers felt after their string of victories across Mississippi. They were also costly, with casualties of 157 killed, 777 wounded, and 8 missing, versus Confederate casualties of 8 killed and 62 wounded. The Confederates, assumed to be demoralized, had regained their fighting edge.

Grant planned another assault for May 22, but this time with greater care; they would first reconnoiter thoroughly and soften up the defenses with artillery and naval gunfire. The lead units were supplied with ladders to ascend the fortification walls. Grant did not want a long siege, and this attack was to be by the entire army across a wide front.

Despite their bloody repulse on May 19, Union troops were in high spirits, now well-fed with provisions they had foraged. On seeing Grant pass by, a soldier commented, "Hardtack." Soon all Union troops in the vicinity were yelling, "Hardtack! Hardtack!" The Union served hardtack, beans, and coffee the night of May 21. Everyone expected that Vicksburg would fall the next day.

Union forces bombarded the city all night, from 220 artillery pieces and naval gunfire from Rear Adm. David D. Porter's fleet in the river, and while causing little property damage, they damaged Confederate civilian morale. On the morning of May 22, the defenders were bombarded again for four hours before the Union attacked once more along a three-mile front at 10 a.m.

Sherman attacked once again down the Graveyard Road, with 150 volunteers (nicknamed the Forlorn Hope detachment) leading the way with ladders and planks, followed by the divisions of Blair and Brig. Gen. James M. Tuttle, arranged in a long column of regiments, hoping to achieve a breakthrough by concentrating their mass on a narrow front. They were driven back in the face of heavy rifle fire. Blair's brigades under Cols. Giles A. Smith and T. Kilby Smith made it as far as a ridge 100 yards from Green's Redan, the southern edge of the Stockade Redan, from where they poured heavy fire into the Confederate position, but to no avail. Tuttle's division, waiting its turn to advance, did not have an opportunity to move forward. On Sherman's far right, the division of Brig. Gen. Frederick Steele spent the morning attempting to get into position through a ravine of the Mint Spring Bayou.

McPherson's corps was assigned to attack the center along the Jackson Road. On their right flank, the brigade of Brig. Gen. Thomas E. G. Ransom advanced to within 100 yards of the Confederate line, but halted to avoid dangerous flanking fire from Green's Redan. On McPherson's left flank, the division of Maj. Gen. John A. Logan was assigned to assault the 3rd Louisiana Redan and the Great Redoubt. The brigade of Brig. Gen. John E. Smith made it as far as the slope of the redan, but huddled there, dodging grenades until dark before they were recalled. Brig. Gen. John D. Stevenson's brigade advanced well in two columns against the redoubt, but their attack also failed when they found their ladders were too short to scale the fortification. Brig. Gen. Isaac F. Quinby's division advanced a few hundred yards, but halted for hours while its generals engaged in confused discussions.

On the Union left, McClernand's corps moved along the Baldwin Ferry Road and astride the Southern Railroad of Mississippi. The division of Brig. Gen. Eugene A. Carr was assigned to capture the Railroad Redoubt and the 2nd Texas Lunette; the division of Brig. Gen. Peter J. Osterhaus was assigned the Square Fort. Carr's men achieved a small breakthrough at the 2nd Texas Lunette and requested reinforcements.

By 11 a.m., it was clear that a breakthrough was not forthcoming and the advances by Sherman and McPherson were failures. Just then, Grant received a message from McClernand, which stated that he was heavily engaged, the Confederates were being reinforced, and he requested a diversion on his right from McPherson's corps. Grant initially refused the request, telling McClernand to use his own reserve forces for assistance; Grant was mistakenly under the impression that McClernand had been lightly engaged and McPherson heavily, although the reverse was true. McClernand followed up with a message that was partially misleading, implying that he had captured two forts—"The Stars and Stripes are flying over them."—and that another push along the line would achieve victory for the Union Army. Although Grant once again demurred, he showed the dispatch to Sherman, who ordered his own corps to advance again. Grant, reconsidering, then ordered McPherson to send Quinby's division to aid McClernand.

Sherman ordered two more assaults. At 2:15 p.m., Giles Smith and Ransom moved out and were repulsed immediately. At 3 p.m., Tuttle's division suffered so many casualties in their aborted advance that Sherman told Tuttle, "This is murder; order those troops back." By this time, Steele's division had finally maneuvered into position on Sherman's right, and at 4 p.m., Steele gave the order to charge against the 26th Louisiana Redoubt. They had no more success than any of Sherman's other assaults.

In McPherson's sector, Logan's division made another thrust down the Jackson Road at about 2 p.m., but met with heavy losses and the attack was called off. McClernand attacked again, reinforced by Quinby's division, but with no success. Union casualties were 502 killed, 2,550 wounded, and 147 missing, about evenly divided across the three corps. Confederate casualties were not reported directly, but are estimated to be under 500. Grant blamed McClernand's misleading dispatches for part of the poor results of the day, storing up another grievance against the political general who had caused him so many aggravations during the campaign.

Historian Shelby Foote wrote that Grant "did not regret having made the assaults; he only regretted that they had failed."[21] Grant reluctantly settled into a siege. On May 25, Lt. Col. John A. Rawlins issued Special Orders No. 140 for Grant: "Corps Commanders will immediately commence the work of reducing the enemy by regular approaches. It is desirable that no more loss of life shall be sustained in the reduction of Vicksburg, and the capture of the Garrison. Every advantage will be taken of the natural inequalities of the ground to gain positions from which to start mines, trenches, or advance batteries. ..." Grant wrote in his memoirs, "I now determined upon a regular siege—to 'out-camp the enemy,' as it were, and to incur no more losses."

Federal troops began to dig in, constructing elaborate entrenchments (the soldiers of the time referred to them as "ditches") that surrounded the city and moved closer and closer to the Confederate fortifications. With their backs against the Mississippi and Union gunboats firing from the river, Confederate soldiers and citizens alike were trapped. Pemberton was determined to hold his few miles of the Mississippi as long as possible, hoping for relief from Johnston or elsewhere.

A new problem confronted the Confederates. The dead and wounded of Grant's army lay in the heat of Mississippi summer, the odor of the deceased men and horses fouling the air, the wounded crying for medical help and water. Grant first refused a request of truce, thinking it a show of weakness. Finally he relented, and the Confederates held their fire while the Union recovered the wounded and dead, soldiers from both sides mingling and trading as if no hostilities existed for the moment.

Subsequent to this truce, Grant's army began to fill the 12 mile ring around Vicksburg. In short time it became clear that even 50,000 Union soldiers would not be able to effect a complete encirclement of the Confederate defenses. Pemberton's outlook on escape was pessimistic, but there were still roads leading south out of Vicksburg unguarded by Federal troops. Grant found help from Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck, the Union general-in-chief. Halleck quickly began to shift Union troops in the West to meet Grant's needs. The first of these reinforcements to arrive along the siege lines was a 5,000 man division from the Department of the Missouri under Maj. Gen. Francis J. Herron on June 11. Herron's troops, remnants of the Army of the Frontier, were attached to McPherson's corps and took up position on the far south. Next came a three division detachment from the XVI Corps led by Brig. Gen. Cadwallader C. Washburn on June 12, assembled from troops at nearby posts of Corinth, Memphis, and LaGrange. The final significant group of reinforcements to join was the 8,000 man strong IX Corps from the Department of the Ohio, led by Maj. Gen. John G. Parke, arriving on June 14. With the arrival of Parke, Grant had 77,000 men around Vicksburg.

In an effort to cut Grant's supply line, Confederates in Louisiana under Maj. Gen. John G. Walker attacked Milliken's Bend up the Mississippi on June 7. This was mainly defended by untrained colored troops, who fought bravely with inferior weaponry and finally fought off the rebels with help from gunboats, although at horrible cost; the defenders lost 652 to the Confederate 185. The loss at Milliken's Bend left the Confederates with no hope for relief but from the cautious Johnston.

Pemberton was boxed in with lots of inedible munitions and little food. The poor diet was showing on the Confederate soldiers. By the end of June, half were out sick or hospitalized. Scurvy, malaria, dysentery, diarrhea, and other diseases cut their ranks. At least one city resident had to stay up at night to keep starving soldiers out of his vegetable garden. The constant shelling did not bother him as much as the loss of his food. As the siege wore on, fewer and fewer horses, mules, and dogs were seen wandering about Vicksburg. Shoe leather became a last resort of sustenance for many adults.

During the siege, Union gunboats lobbed over 22,000 shells into the town and army artillery fire was even heavier. As the barrages continued, suitable housing in Vicksburg was reduced to a minimum. A ridge, located between the main town and the rebel defense line, provided a diverse citizenry with lodging for the duration. Over 500 caves were dug into the yellow clay hills of Vicksburg. Whether houses were structurally sound or not, it was deemed safer to occupy these dugouts. People did their best to make them comfortable, with rugs, furniture, and pictures. They tried to time their movements and foraging with the rhythm of the cannonade, sometimes unsuccessfully. Because of these dugouts or caves, the Union soldiers gave the town the nickname of "Prairie Dog Village." Despite the ferocity of the Union fire against the town, fewer than a dozen civilians were known to have been killed during the entire siege.

One of Grant's actions during the siege was to settle a lingering rivalry. On May 30, General McClernand wrote a self-adulatory note to his troops, claiming much of the credit for the soon-to-be victory. Grant had been waiting six months for him to slip, ever since they clashed early in the campaign, around the Battle of Arkansas Post. He had received permission to relieve McClernand in January 1863 but waited for a unequivocal provocation. Grant finally relieved McClernand on June 18. He so diligently prepared his action that McClernand was left without recourse. McClernand's XIII Corps was turned over to Maj. Gen. Edward Ord, recovered from a wound sustained at Hatchie's Bridge. In May 1864, McClernand was restored to a command in remote Texas.

Another command change occurred on June 22. In addition to Pemberton at his front, Grant had to be concerned with Confederate forces in his rear under the command of Joseph E. Johnston. He stationed one division in the vicinity of the Big Black River bridge and another reconnoitered as far north as Mechanicsburg, both to act as a covering force. By June 10, the IX Corps, under Maj. Gen. John G. Parke, was transferred to Grant's command. This corps became the nucleus of a special task force whose mission was to prevent Johnston, gathering his forces at Canton, from interfering with the siege. Sherman was given command of this task force and Brig. Gen. Frederick Steele replaced him at the XV Corps. Johnston eventually began moving to relieve Pemberton and reached the Big Black River on July 1, but he delayed a potentially difficult encounter with Sherman until it was too late for the Vicksburg garrison, and then fell back to Jackson.

Late in the siege, Union troops tunneled under the 3rd Louisiana Redan and packed the mine with 2,200 pounds of gunpowder. The explosion blew apart the Confederate lines on June 25, while an infantry attack made by troops from Logan's XVII Corps division, followed the blast. The 45th Illinois Regiment (known as the "Lead Mine Regiment"), under Col. Jasper A. Maltby, charged into the 40-foot (12 m) diameter, 12-foot (3.7 m) deep crater with ease, but were stopped by recovering Confederate infantry. The Union soldiers became pinned down while the defenders also rolled artillery shells with short fuses into the pit with deadly results. Union engineers worked to set up a casemate in the crater in order to extricate the infantry, and soon the soldiers fell back to a new defensive line. From the crater left by the explosion on June 25, Union miners worked to dig a new mine to the south. On July 1, this mine was detonated but no infantry attack followed. Pioneers worked throughout July 2 and July 3 to widen the initial crater large enough for an infantry column of four to pass through for future anticipated assaults. However, events the following day negated the need for any further assaults.

On July 3, Pemberton sent a note to Grant, who, as at Fort Donelson, first demanded unconditional surrender. But Grant reconsidered, not wanting to feed 30,000 hungry Confederates in Union prison camps, and offered to parole all prisoners. Considering their destitute state, dejected and starving, he never expected them to fight again; he hoped they would carry home the stigma of defeat to the rest of the Confederacy. In any event, it would have occupied his army and taken months to ship that many troops north.[34]

Surrender was formalized by an old oak tree, "made historical by the event." In his Personal Memoirs, Grant described the fate of this luckless tree:

It was but a short time before the last vestige of its body, root and limb had disappeared, the fragments taken as trophies. Since then the same tree has furnished as many cords of wood, in the shape of trophies, as the 'True Cross'.

The surrender was finalized on July 4, Independence Day, a day Pemberton had hoped would bring more sympathetic terms from the United States. Although the Vicksburg Campaign continued with some minor actions, the fortress city had fallen and, with the surrender of Port Hudson on July 9, the Mississippi River was firmly in Union hands and the Confederacy split in two. President Lincoln famously announced, "The Father of Waters again goes unvexed to the sea."

Union casualties for the battle and siege of Vicksburg were 4,835; Confederate were 32,697 (29,495 surrendered). The full campaign, since March 29, claimed 10,142 Union and 9,091 Confederate killed and wounded. In addition to his surrendered men, Pemberton turned over to Grant 172 cannons and 50,000 rifles.

Tradition holds that the Fourth of July holiday was not celebrated by Vicksburg until World War II, because of the surrender of the city on July 4.

The works around Vicksburg are now maintained by the National Park Service as part of Vicksburg National Military Park.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Vicksburg


Vicksburg National Military Park (105)
animals facts
Image by Ken Lund
Vicksburg National Military Park preserves the site of the American Civil War Battle of Vicksburg, waged from May 18 to July 4, 1863. The park, in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and Delta, Louisiana, also commemorates the greater Vicksburg Campaign, which preceded the battle. Reconstructed forts and trenches evoke memories of the 47-day siege that ended in the surrender of the city. Victory here and at Port Hudson gave the United States control of the Mississippi River.

A little known fact about the Vicksburg National Military Park is that, because it was paid for by the Federal Government, all of the Union Monuments were paid for by the US Government. The Confederate states however, were not Federally funded and their representation in the park is the direct result of years of fund raising and multiple benefits. Though the park is located in the South, the Federal Government did not give equal monetary donations to the Union and Confederacy, thus leaving the South to their own devices as far as money was concerned.

The park includes 1,325 historic monuments and markers, 20 miles (32 km) of historic trenches and earthworks, a 16-mile (26 km) tour road, two antebellum homes, 144 emplaced cannons, restored gunboat USS Cairo (sunk on December 12, 1862, on the Yazoo River, recovered successfully in 1964), and the Grant's Canal site, where the Union army attempted to build a canal to let their ships bypass Confederate artillery fire. The Cairo, also known as the "Hardluck Ironclad," was the first U.S. ship in history to be sunk by a torpedo/mine. It was raised in 1964. The Illinois State Memorial has 47 steps, one for every day Vicksburg was besieged.

The remnants of Grant's Canal, a detached section of the military park, are located across from Vicksburg near Delta, Louisiana. Union Army Major General Ulysses S. Grant ordered the project, started on June 27, 1862, as part of his Vicksburg Campaign, with two goals in mind. The first was to alter the course of the Mississippi River in order to bypass the Confederate guns at Vicksburg. For various technical reasons the project failed to meet this goal. The river did change course by itself on April 26, 1876. The project met its second goal, keeping troops occupied during the laborious maneuvering required to begin the Battle of Vicksburg.

The national military park was established on February 21, 1899, to commemorate the siege and defense of Vicksburg. The park sprawls over 1,800 acres (7.3 km2) of land. The park and cemetery were transferred from the War Department to the National Park Service (NPS) on August 10, 1933. Of the park's 1,736.47 acres (not including the cemetery), 1,729.63 acres (6.9996 km2) are federally owned.

In the late 1950s, a portion of the park was transferred to the city as a local park in exchange for closing local roads running through the remainder of the park. It also allowed for the construction of Interstate 20. The monuments in land transferred to the city are still maintained by the NPS. As with all historic areas administered by the NPS, the park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. Over a million visitors visit the park every year.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicksburg_National_Military_Park

The Siege of Vicksburg was the final major military action in the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. In a series of maneuvers, Union Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his Army of the Tennessee crossed the Mississippi River and drove the Confederate army of Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton into the defensive lines surrounding the fortress city of Vicksburg, Mississippi.

When two major assaults (May 19 and May 22, 1863) against the Confederate fortifications were repulsed with heavy casualties, Grant decided to besiege the city beginning on May 25. With no re-enforcement, supplies nearly gone, and after holding out for more than forty days, the garrison finally surrendered on July 4. This action (combined with the capitulation of Port Hudson on July 9) yielded command of the Mississippi River to the Union forces, which would hold it for the rest of the conflict.

The Confederate surrender following the siege at Vicksburg is sometimes considered, when combined with Gen. Robert E. Lee's defeat at Gettysburg the previous day, the turning point of the war. It also cut off communication with Confederate forces in the Trans-Mississippi Department for the remainder of the war. The city of Vicksburg would not celebrate Independence Day for about eighty years as a result of the siege and surrender as well.

After crossing the Mississippi River south of Vicksburg at Bruinsburg and driving northeast, Grant won battles at Port Gibson and Raymond and captured Jackson, the Mississippi state capital, in mid-May 1863, forcing Pemberton to withdraw westward. Attempts to stop the Union advance at Champion Hill and Big Black River Bridge were unsuccessful. Pemberton knew that the corps under Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman was preparing to flank him from the north; he had no choice but to withdraw or be outflanked. Pemberton burned the bridges over the Big Black River and took everything edible in his path, both animal and plant, as he retreated to the well-fortified city of Vicksburg.

The Confederates evacuated Hayne's Bluff, which was occupied by Sherman's cavalry on May 19, and Union steamboats no longer had to run the guns of Vicksburg, now being able to dock by the dozens up the Yazoo River. Grant could now receive supplies more directly than the previous route, which ran through Louisiana, over the river crossing at Grand Gulf and Bruinsburg, then back up north.

Over three quarters of Pemberton's army had been lost in the two preceding battles and many in Vicksburg expected General Joseph E. Johnston, in command of the Confederate Department of the West, to relieve the city—which he never did. Large masses of Union troops were on the march to invest the city, repairing the burnt bridges over the Big Black River; which Grant's forces crossed on May 18. Johnston sent a note to his general, Pemberton, asking him to sacrifice the city and save his troops, something Pemberton would not do. (Pemberton, a Northerner by birth, was probably influenced by his fear of public condemnation if he abandoned Vicksburg).

As the Union forces approached Vicksburg, Pemberton could put only 18,500 troops in his lines. Grant had over 35,000, with more on the way. However, Pemberton had the advantage of terrain and fortifications that made his defense nearly impregnable. The defensive line around Vicksburg ran approximately 6.5 miles, based on terrain of varying elevations that included hills and knobs with steep angles for an attacker to ascend under fire. The perimeter included many gun pits, forts, trenches, redoubts, and lunettes. The major fortifications of the line included Fort Hill, on a high bluff north of the city; the Stockade Redan, dominating the approach to the city on Graveyard Road from the northeast; the 3rd Louisiana Redan; the Great Redoubt; the Railroad Redoubt, protecting the gap for the railroad line entering the city; the Square Fort (Fort Garrott); a salient along the Hall's Ferry Road; and the South Fort.

Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Union Army of the Tennessee brought three corps to the battle: the XIII Corps, under Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand; the XV Corps, under Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman; and the XVII Corps, under Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson.

Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton's Confederate Army of Mississippi inside the Vicksburg line consisted of four divisions, under Maj. Gens. Carter L. Stevenson, John H. Forney, Martin L. Smith, and John S. Bowen.

Grant wanted to overwhelm the Confederates before they could fully organize their defenses and ordered an immediate assault against Stockade Redan for May 19. Troops from Sherman's corps had a difficult time approaching the position under rifle and artillery fire from the 36th Mississippi Infantry, Brig. Gen. Louis Hébert's brigade—they had to negotiate a steep ravine protected by abatis and cross a six-foot deep, eight-foot wide ditch before attacking the 17-foot high walls of the redan. This first attempt was easily repulsed. Grant ordered an artillery bombardment to soften the defenses and at about 2 p.m., Sherman's division under Maj. Gen. Francis P. Blair tried again, but only a small number of men were able to advance even as far as the ditch below the redan. The assault collapsed in a melee of rifle fire and hand grenades lobbing back and forth.

The failed Federal assaults of May 19 damaged Union morale, deflating the confidence the soldiers felt after their string of victories across Mississippi. They were also costly, with casualties of 157 killed, 777 wounded, and 8 missing, versus Confederate casualties of 8 killed and 62 wounded. The Confederates, assumed to be demoralized, had regained their fighting edge.

Grant planned another assault for May 22, but this time with greater care; they would first reconnoiter thoroughly and soften up the defenses with artillery and naval gunfire. The lead units were supplied with ladders to ascend the fortification walls. Grant did not want a long siege, and this attack was to be by the entire army across a wide front.

Despite their bloody repulse on May 19, Union troops were in high spirits, now well-fed with provisions they had foraged. On seeing Grant pass by, a soldier commented, "Hardtack." Soon all Union troops in the vicinity were yelling, "Hardtack! Hardtack!" The Union served hardtack, beans, and coffee the night of May 21. Everyone expected that Vicksburg would fall the next day.

Union forces bombarded the city all night, from 220 artillery pieces and naval gunfire from Rear Adm. David D. Porter's fleet in the river, and while causing little property damage, they damaged Confederate civilian morale. On the morning of May 22, the defenders were bombarded again for four hours before the Union attacked once more along a three-mile front at 10 a.m.

Sherman attacked once again down the Graveyard Road, with 150 volunteers (nicknamed the Forlorn Hope detachment) leading the way with ladders and planks, followed by the divisions of Blair and Brig. Gen. James M. Tuttle, arranged in a long column of regiments, hoping to achieve a breakthrough by concentrating their mass on a narrow front. They were driven back in the face of heavy rifle fire. Blair's brigades under Cols. Giles A. Smith and T. Kilby Smith made it as far as a ridge 100 yards from Green's Redan, the southern edge of the Stockade Redan, from where they poured heavy fire into the Confederate position, but to no avail. Tuttle's division, waiting its turn to advance, did not have an opportunity to move forward. On Sherman's far right, the division of Brig. Gen. Frederick Steele spent the morning attempting to get into position through a ravine of the Mint Spring Bayou.

McPherson's corps was assigned to attack the center along the Jackson Road. On their right flank, the brigade of Brig. Gen. Thomas E. G. Ransom advanced to within 100 yards of the Confederate line, but halted to avoid dangerous flanking fire from Green's Redan. On McPherson's left flank, the division of Maj. Gen. John A. Logan was assigned to assault the 3rd Louisiana Redan and the Great Redoubt. The brigade of Brig. Gen. John E. Smith made it as far as the slope of the redan, but huddled there, dodging grenades until dark before they were recalled. Brig. Gen. John D. Stevenson's brigade advanced well in two columns against the redoubt, but their attack also failed when they found their ladders were too short to scale the fortification. Brig. Gen. Isaac F. Quinby's division advanced a few hundred yards, but halted for hours while its generals engaged in confused discussions.

On the Union left, McClernand's corps moved along the Baldwin Ferry Road and astride the Southern Railroad of Mississippi. The division of Brig. Gen. Eugene A. Carr was assigned to capture the Railroad Redoubt and the 2nd Texas Lunette; the division of Brig. Gen. Peter J. Osterhaus was assigned the Square Fort. Carr's men achieved a small breakthrough at the 2nd Texas Lunette and requested reinforcements.

By 11 a.m., it was clear that a breakthrough was not forthcoming and the advances by Sherman and McPherson were failures. Just then, Grant received a message from McClernand, which stated that he was heavily engaged, the Confederates were being reinforced, and he requested a diversion on his right from McPherson's corps. Grant initially refused the request, telling McClernand to use his own reserve forces for assistance; Grant was mistakenly under the impression that McClernand had been lightly engaged and McPherson heavily, although the reverse was true. McClernand followed up with a message that was partially misleading, implying that he had captured two forts—"The Stars and Stripes are flying over them."—and that another push along the line would achieve victory for the Union Army. Although Grant once again demurred, he showed the dispatch to Sherman, who ordered his own corps to advance again. Grant, reconsidering, then ordered McPherson to send Quinby's division to aid McClernand.

Sherman ordered two more assaults. At 2:15 p.m., Giles Smith and Ransom moved out and were repulsed immediately. At 3 p.m., Tuttle's division suffered so many casualties in their aborted advance that Sherman told Tuttle, "This is murder; order those troops back." By this time, Steele's division had finally maneuvered into position on Sherman's right, and at 4 p.m., Steele gave the order to charge against the 26th Louisiana Redoubt. They had no more success than any of Sherman's other assaults.

In McPherson's sector, Logan's division made another thrust down the Jackson Road at about 2 p.m., but met with heavy losses and the attack was called off. McClernand attacked again, reinforced by Quinby's division, but with no success. Union casualties were 502 killed, 2,550 wounded, and 147 missing, about evenly divided across the three corps. Confederate casualties were not reported directly, but are estimated to be under 500. Grant blamed McClernand's misleading dispatches for part of the poor results of the day, storing up another grievance against the political general who had caused him so many aggravations during the campaign.

Historian Shelby Foote wrote that Grant "did not regret having made the assaults; he only regretted that they had failed."[21] Grant reluctantly settled into a siege. On May 25, Lt. Col. John A. Rawlins issued Special Orders No. 140 for Grant: "Corps Commanders will immediately commence the work of reducing the enemy by regular approaches. It is desirable that no more loss of life shall be sustained in the reduction of Vicksburg, and the capture of the Garrison. Every advantage will be taken of the natural inequalities of the ground to gain positions from which to start mines, trenches, or advance batteries. ..." Grant wrote in his memoirs, "I now determined upon a regular siege—to 'out-camp the enemy,' as it were, and to incur no more losses."

Federal troops began to dig in, constructing elaborate entrenchments (the soldiers of the time referred to them as "ditches") that surrounded the city and moved closer and closer to the Confederate fortifications. With their backs against the Mississippi and Union gunboats firing from the river, Confederate soldiers and citizens alike were trapped. Pemberton was determined to hold his few miles of the Mississippi as long as possible, hoping for relief from Johnston or elsewhere.

A new problem confronted the Confederates. The dead and wounded of Grant's army lay in the heat of Mississippi summer, the odor of the deceased men and horses fouling the air, the wounded crying for medical help and water. Grant first refused a request of truce, thinking it a show of weakness. Finally he relented, and the Confederates held their fire while the Union recovered the wounded and dead, soldiers from both sides mingling and trading as if no hostilities existed for the moment.

Subsequent to this truce, Grant's army began to fill the 12 mile ring around Vicksburg. In short time it became clear that even 50,000 Union soldiers would not be able to effect a complete encirclement of the Confederate defenses. Pemberton's outlook on escape was pessimistic, but there were still roads leading south out of Vicksburg unguarded by Federal troops. Grant found help from Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck, the Union general-in-chief. Halleck quickly began to shift Union troops in the West to meet Grant's needs. The first of these reinforcements to arrive along the siege lines was a 5,000 man division from the Department of the Missouri under Maj. Gen. Francis J. Herron on June 11. Herron's troops, remnants of the Army of the Frontier, were attached to McPherson's corps and took up position on the far south. Next came a three division detachment from the XVI Corps led by Brig. Gen. Cadwallader C. Washburn on June 12, assembled from troops at nearby posts of Corinth, Memphis, and LaGrange. The final significant group of reinforcements to join was the 8,000 man strong IX Corps from the Department of the Ohio, led by Maj. Gen. John G. Parke, arriving on June 14. With the arrival of Parke, Grant had 77,000 men around Vicksburg.

In an effort to cut Grant's supply line, Confederates in Louisiana under Maj. Gen. John G. Walker attacked Milliken's Bend up the Mississippi on June 7. This was mainly defended by untrained colored troops, who fought bravely with inferior weaponry and finally fought off the rebels with help from gunboats, although at horrible cost; the defenders lost 652 to the Confederate 185. The loss at Milliken's Bend left the Confederates with no hope for relief but from the cautious Johnston.

Pemberton was boxed in with lots of inedible munitions and little food. The poor diet was showing on the Confederate soldiers. By the end of June, half were out sick or hospitalized. Scurvy, malaria, dysentery, diarrhea, and other diseases cut their ranks. At least one city resident had to stay up at night to keep starving soldiers out of his vegetable garden. The constant shelling did not bother him as much as the loss of his food. As the siege wore on, fewer and fewer horses, mules, and dogs were seen wandering about Vicksburg. Shoe leather became a last resort of sustenance for many adults.

During the siege, Union gunboats lobbed over 22,000 shells into the town and army artillery fire was even heavier. As the barrages continued, suitable housing in Vicksburg was reduced to a minimum. A ridge, located between the main town and the rebel defense line, provided a diverse citizenry with lodging for the duration. Over 500 caves were dug into the yellow clay hills of Vicksburg. Whether houses were structurally sound or not, it was deemed safer to occupy these dugouts. People did their best to make them comfortable, with rugs, furniture, and pictures. They tried to time their movements and foraging with the rhythm of the cannonade, sometimes unsuccessfully. Because of these dugouts or caves, the Union soldiers gave the town the nickname of "Prairie Dog Village." Despite the ferocity of the Union fire against the town, fewer than a dozen civilians were known to have been killed during the entire siege.

One of Grant's actions during the siege was to settle a lingering rivalry. On May 30, General McClernand wrote a self-adulatory note to his troops, claiming much of the credit for the soon-to-be victory. Grant had been waiting six months for him to slip, ever since they clashed early in the campaign, around the Battle of Arkansas Post. He had received permission to relieve McClernand in January 1863 but waited for a unequivocal provocation. Grant finally relieved McClernand on June 18. He so diligently prepared his action that McClernand was left without recourse. McClernand's XIII Corps was turned over to Maj. Gen. Edward Ord, recovered from a wound sustained at Hatchie's Bridge. In May 1864, McClernand was restored to a command in remote Texas.

Another command change occurred on June 22. In addition to Pemberton at his front, Grant had to be concerned with Confederate forces in his rear under the command of Joseph E. Johnston. He stationed one division in the vicinity of the Big Black River bridge and another reconnoitered as far north as Mechanicsburg, both to act as a covering force. By June 10, the IX Corps, under Maj. Gen. John G. Parke, was transferred to Grant's command. This corps became the nucleus of a special task force whose mission was to prevent Johnston, gathering his forces at Canton, from interfering with the siege. Sherman was given command of this task force and Brig. Gen. Frederick Steele replaced him at the XV Corps. Johnston eventually began moving to relieve Pemberton and reached the Big Black River on July 1, but he delayed a potentially difficult encounter with Sherman until it was too late for the Vicksburg garrison, and then fell back to Jackson.

Late in the siege, Union troops tunneled under the 3rd Louisiana Redan and packed the mine with 2,200 pounds of gunpowder. The explosion blew apart the Confederate lines on June 25, while an infantry attack made by troops from Logan's XVII Corps division, followed the blast. The 45th Illinois Regiment (known as the "Lead Mine Regiment"), under Col. Jasper A. Maltby, charged into the 40-foot (12 m) diameter, 12-foot (3.7 m) deep crater with ease, but were stopped by recovering Confederate infantry. The Union soldiers became pinned down while the defenders also rolled artillery shells with short fuses into the pit with deadly results. Union engineers worked to set up a casemate in the crater in order to extricate the infantry, and soon the soldiers fell back to a new defensive line. From the crater left by the explosion on June 25, Union miners worked to dig a new mine to the south. On July 1, this mine was detonated but no infantry attack followed. Pioneers worked throughout July 2 and July 3 to widen the initial crater large enough for an infantry column of four to pass through for future anticipated assaults. However, events the following day negated the need for any further assaults.

On July 3, Pemberton sent a note to Grant, who, as at Fort Donelson, first demanded unconditional surrender. But Grant reconsidered, not wanting to feed 30,000 hungry Confederates in Union prison camps, and offered to parole all prisoners. Considering their destitute state, dejected and starving, he never expected them to fight again; he hoped they would carry home the stigma of defeat to the rest of the Confederacy. In any event, it would have occupied his army and taken months to ship that many troops north.[34]

Surrender was formalized by an old oak tree, "made historical by the event." In his Personal Memoirs, Grant described the fate of this luckless tree:

It was but a short time before the last vestige of its body, root and limb had disappeared, the fragments taken as trophies. Since then the same tree has furnished as many cords of wood, in the shape of trophies, as the 'True Cross'.

The surrender was finalized on July 4, Independence Day, a day Pemberton had hoped would bring more sympathetic terms from the United States. Although the Vicksburg Campaign continued with some minor actions, the fortress city had fallen and, with the surrender of Port Hudson on July 9, the Mississippi River was firmly in Union hands and the Confederacy split in two. President Lincoln famously announced, "The Father of Waters again goes unvexed to the sea."

Union casualties for the battle and siege of Vicksburg were 4,835; Confederate were 32,697 (29,495 surrendered). The full campaign, since March 29, claimed 10,142 Union and 9,091 Confederate killed and wounded. In addition to his surrendered men, Pemberton turned over to Grant 172 cannons and 50,000 rifles.

Tradition holds that the Fourth of July holiday was not celebrated by Vicksburg until World War II, because of the surrender of the city on July 4.

The works around Vicksburg are now maintained by the National Park Service as part of Vicksburg National Military Park.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Vicksburg

Cool Wild Animals images

A few nice wild animals images I found:


Cheetah at Maasai Mara
wild animals
Image by JaviC


100_1554
wild animals
Image by JaviC

Cool Animal Humane Society images

Check out these animal humane society images:


Tommy.jpg
animal humane society
Image by mark.pattersonII


Sugar Bear4.jpg
animal humane society
Image by mark.pattersonII


Simba2.jpg
animal humane society
Image by mark.pattersonII

Nice Types Of Animals photos

Check out these types of animals images:


Lurcern 0628
types of animals
Image by Michael Dawes
The Verkehrshaus is the most visited museum of Switzerland.
From the train station you catch the bus (N° 6 or 8) up to the station "Verkehrshaus". The bus drives every five to ten minutes. At the entrance you'll find an old VW beetle full of stickers.
At the museum you can see a lot of different means of transport (airplanes, trains, ships, and so on) and things about communication. Further you can walk on the Swiss map and with a lens you can accrete every point of Switzerland (Swissarena). Not to forget: the planetarium.
If you're tired of the museum, you can visit the IMAX right beside of the musem. You can also have a kombi ticket (museum + IMAX).
The museum offers a lot of things, so keep free enough time.


Lurcern 0630
types of animals
Image by Michael Dawes
The Verkehrshaus is the most visited museum of Switzerland.
From the train station you catch the bus (N° 6 or 8) up to the station "Verkehrshaus". The bus drives every five to ten minutes. At the entrance you'll find an old VW beetle full of stickers.
At the museum you can see a lot of different means of transport (airplanes, trains, ships, and so on) and things about communication. Further you can walk on the Swiss map and with a lens you can accrete every point of Switzerland (Swissarena). Not to forget: the planetarium.
If you're tired of the museum, you can visit the IMAX right beside of the musem. You can also have a kombi ticket (museum + IMAX).
The museum offers a lot of things, so keep free enough time.


Lurcern 0633
types of animals
Image by Michael Dawes
The Verkehrshaus is the most visited museum of Switzerland.
From the train station you catch the bus (N° 6 or 8) up to the station "Verkehrshaus". The bus drives every five to ten minutes. At the entrance you'll find an old VW beetle full of stickers.
At the museum you can see a lot of different means of transport (airplanes, trains, ships, and so on) and things about communication. Further you can walk on the Swiss map and with a lens you can accrete every point of Switzerland (Swissarena). Not to forget: the planetarium.
If you're tired of the museum, you can visit the IMAX right beside of the musem. You can also have a kombi ticket (museum + IMAX).
The museum offers a lot of things, so keep free enough time.

Cool Stuff Animals images

Some cool stuff animals images:


Cats & Stuffed Animals 4
stuff animals
Image by Rubink1

Nice Endangered Animal Species photos

Check out these endangered animal species images:




Dublin Zoo
endangered animal species
Image by infomatique
Dublin Zoo, in Phoenix Park, Dublin, Ireland is the largest zoo in Ireland and one of Dublin's most popular attractions. Founded in 1830 it is the fourth oldest scientific zoo in the world, after Tiergarten Schönbrunn in Vienna, London Zoo, and the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. The zoo receives over 500,000 visitors per year. The zoo describes its role as conservation, study, and education. Its stated mission is to “work in partnership with zoos world-wide to make a significant contribution to the conservation of the endangered species on Earth".
Covering 12 hectares (30 acres) of Phoenix Park, it provides a habitat for more than 235 species of wild animals and tropical birds. The zoo includes: World of Cats, World of Primates, Fringes of the Arctic, African Plains, Birds, Reptiles, Plants, City Farm and Endangered Species.

We were here first!

Some cool animals facts images:


We were here first!
animals facts
Image by beingmyself
The Giant Panda is one of the most misunderstood animals on the planet. For many years, it was believed to be a type of racoon, like the similarly named red panda. However, genetics testing and observation have revealed that the panda is in fact, a bear. It has several adaptations that make it unusual. First is the fact that it has six digits on the front paws, giving it an opposable thumb ideal for holding onto the stalks of bamboo which it consumes in great amounts. The genitalia of the male are rear-pointing and small which is also decidedly unbearish, and much more like those of the red panda. It has only been since 1995 that the Panda has been officially considered a bear.
Typical pandas have a large head, and distinct white and black coloration which contrasts sharply with the deep green of their natural habitat. Pandas can only be found in six tiny regions in southwest China. These places are along the Tibetan plateau in Sichuan, Gansu, and Shaanzi provinces. Combined, these areas are less than 5,400 square miles of very high altitude (4,000-11,500 ft.) mountain forests grown thick with patches of more than 30 species of bamboo. The bears themselves have home ranges from 1.8 to 3.3 square miles. The territories of the males often overlap those of a number of females.
Newborn pandas weigh between 3 and 5 ounces. Males grow to 190-275 pounds and 64-76 inches in length, with females being slightly smaller and lighter at 155-220 pounds. They reach sexual maturity between ages 4 1/2 to 6 1/2 years and mate once during the spring months of March, April, and May. The females are in estrus for anywhere from 1 to 3 weeks, but are only really receptive for a few days of that time. During August and September, pregnant females give birth to anywhere from one to three cubs, with one being the more common. The cubs are weaned at nine months, but often stay with their mothers for more than two years.
Like most bears, pandas are solitary animals. Females with cubs being the only exception. They mark their territories by scratching trees and by rubbing a musky anogenital gland against rocks and trees. Additionally, they communicate with different vocalizations. Scientists have identified 11 distince calls, but cannot identify the exact function of all of them.
Pandas are quite vegitarian, making bamboo 99% of their diet. Adults can eat anywhere between 26 and 33 pounds of it in a day, and with soft new shoots up to 84 pounds! Incredibly, that's almost 40% of their body weight! Ocassionally they consume meat and some other plants.



Wee!
animals facts
Image by Anomalily
This looks like gravel, but it is in fact very soft animal-bedding-esque-stuff. And very fun to climb up.

Make It Pink Octupus

Some cool stuff animals images:


Make It Pink Octupus
stuff animals
Image by ohsohappytogether
I made this pink octupus in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month for the Make It Pink Challenge at CraftStylish.com. They are donating to breast cancer research for every project entered that is pink. If you make the prayer shawl on there, Taunton Books will donate ! I encourage craftsters to help in this project.

blogged: ohsohappytogether.blogspot.com/2008/10/make-it-pink.html


Day 40 - Web & Mini Web
stuff animals
Image by saebaryo


Pooh on the Loo, York, England
stuff animals
Image by One lucky guy
For fun. Taken for the kids, who of course are still mystified about why Brits call the toilet a loo...

Cool African Animals images

A few nice african animals images I found:


Close-up of African Elephant's eye (loxodonta africana)
african animals
Image by Gregory Moine
African Elephant (loxodonta africana)

- Range: Open and wooded grasslands from southern to northern South Africa.
- Diet: Elephants are herbivores, eating primarily bark, roots and fruits. They have to eat twice a day what they need because they digest only half of what is consumed.
- Fun fact: each elephant herd is made of related females: sisters, aunts, and cousins; and their juvenile male offspring. They're led by the oldest female called the matriarch. Because of her experience, she remembers where to find water holes and feeding areas, and shows the herd where they are.

Cool Service Animal images

Check out these service animal images:


Service Dogs Come in ALL Sizes!
service animal
Image by Heartlover1717
Trixie is a NEADS service dog specializing in hearing.

A blurb from their website:
NEADS trains all breeds and mixed breeds of dogs to help people who are deaf or physically disabled live more independently. Most hearing dogs are rescued from animal shelters throughout New England. Most service dogs are donated as puppies by breeders throughout the country. Most service dogs are Golden or Labrador retrievers, however, many other breeds are also suitable. Any dog "with the right stuff" can partner with a person to provide independence and companionship by reducing physical and social barriers.

I've learned that Trixie passed away at age 17 on June 9, 2010. She served well and will be missed. Rest in Peace, Trixie! "Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole." -Roger Caras


Service Dogs Come in ALL Sizes!
service animal
Image by Heartlover1717
Trixie is a NEADS service dog specializing in hearing.

A blurb from their website:
NEADS trains all breeds and mixed breeds of dogs to help people who are deaf or physically disabled live more independently. Most hearing dogs are rescued from animal shelters throughout New England. Most service dogs are donated as puppies by breeders throughout the country. Most service dogs are Golden or Labrador retrievers, however, many other breeds are also suitable. Any dog "with the right stuff" can partner with a person to provide independence and companionship by reducing physical and social barriers.

I've learned that Trixie passed away at age 17 on June 9, 2010. She served well and will be missed. Rest in Peace, Trixie! "Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole." -Roger Caras

African Penguins

Some cool african animals images:


African Penguins
african animals
Image by awee_19


African Penguins
african animals
Image by awee_19

Cool Photo Of Animals images

Some cool photo of animals images:



Silverback holding his mate in his sleep
photo of animals
Image by praline3001
I took this at Disney's Animal Kingdom. While watching the gorilla's sleep, the silverback rolled over and put his fingers through the fur of his mate. It was such an intimate loving thing it made me turn away to give them their privacy. This photo is special to me for this reason.

African elephant

A few nice african animals images I found:


African elephant
african animals
Image by Arno Meintjes Wildlife
PICT4004


African Cattle
african animals
Image by Renée S. Suen

Picture 18

Some cool endangered species animals images:


Picture 18
endangered species animals
Image by ellenm1

Nice Photos Of Animals photos

A few nice photos of animals images I found:


The Fjords of Iceland
photos of animals
Image by Stuck in Customs
I shot this went I went out for the day with Rebekka. She showed me a few of her secret tricks! :) Thanks!

Thanks for all the comments on my stream. Here are Your Favorite shots! And here is Page 2 Thanks again!

This one above looks nice Large Version

Nice Animal Shelter photos

Check out these animal shelter images:


Bandit Checks Out The Van
animal shelter
Image by rikkis_refuge
"Hmm, these tires have been places. Sure do need a tune up in the scent department." Thought Bandit as he lifted his leg on each tire in succession. "Hmm, Salon, isn't that where'd they'd stop in for a bite in the old west movies. (Bandit been caught watching TV thru Joe's windows at night.) Mobile Salon, must be a roving cafeteria! Wonder if they know the door is open? Wonder if they're serving ...." And in he went.

The door clicked shut as Deloris was saying, "Be a good boy and you can have more treats after ..." "After? After what?"

www.Rikkisrefuge.org Our next tour is July 4th at 11 am. 540-854-0870 x2
Sign up for our e-mail newsletter "Hairballs" so you know what's coming up !


Vincent Puts His Paw Down
animal shelter
Image by rikkis_refuge
Excuse me, Mr. Bandit, who is complaining about this being a two-month campaign? Just because I was paws over claws ahead of you after the first month, and the visitors at Sponsor Appreciation Day felt sorry for you, and put more in your bucket, you were the one who insisted on dragging it out another month. So I've been working my paws off for the last month too. And just look at the results! I've still got more than twice as much as you do! Haaahh!

I'm putting my paw down right now, and declaring cats the official winner!

But feel free to still cast your vote for me by making your donation now, at www.PayPal.com using our e-mail address mail@RikkisRefuge.org, or call 540 854-0870 extension five, or e-mail with credit card information, drop by the refuge or send a check to Rikki's Refuge, PO Box 1357, Orange VA 22960.

I know I have fans will never let me down!


Bandit Gets To Be First
animal shelter
Image by rikkis_refuge
Bandit! Bandit! Come here Bandit. Bandit, Bandit, where are you? Deb Montgomery of The Curley Dog Mobile Pet Salon (540-720-7861) was dedicating the day to washing dirty old hound dogs, and other residents of Rikki's Refuge. Bandit cracked one eye and sniffed. No smell of food. Though he guess that was another set of tires he'd have to deal with. Bandit! Bandit! By now everybody was calling for Bandit. "Let's see, it's after breakfast, I've already argued over my meds, almost outsmarted Lena this morning but she found where I spit them out and forced them back in. Gee I hate it when she holds my mouth shut till I turn crossed eyed and finally swallow. Not time for dinner or evening meds yet. I wonder what they want? I don't smell any food.", thought Bandit as he laid under my trailer in the shade.

Deloris used the ultimate trick and opened a bag of treats. "Food! I smell Food" and Bandit was out like a flash. Lena and Deloris offered him to be First, his tail began to wag. Being a little hard of hearing he thought they were talking about First at the food bowl, not at the wash tub. Enticed by treats, he lumbered over to Deb's Mobile Salon.

www.Rikkisrefuge.org Our next tour is July 4th at 11 am. 540-854-0870 x2
Sign up for our e-mail newsletter "Hairballs" so you know what's coming up !

Pat Benetar

Check out these animal pound images:


Pat Benetar
animal pound
Image by AAWLSPCA
Pat Benetar

Cool Animal Plant images

A few nice animal plant images I found:


Dying Sumac Flowers
animal plant
Image by bill barber
From my set entitled ‘Sumac”
www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/sets/72157607186471302/
In my collection entitled “The Garden”
www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/collections/7215760718...

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumac
Sumac (also spelled sumach) is any one of approximately 250 species of flowering plants in the genus Rhus and related genera, in the family Anacardiaceae. The dried berries of some species are ground to produce a tangy purple spice often used in juice.

Sumacs grow in subtropical and warm temperate regions throughout the world, especially in North America.

Sumacs are shrubs and small trees that can reach a height of 1-10 meters. The leaves are spirally arranged; they are usually pinnately compound, though some species have trifoliate or simple leaves. The flowers are in dense panicles or spikes 5-30 cm long, each flower very small, greenish, creamy white or red, with five petals. The fruits form dense clusters of reddish drupes called sumac bobs.

Sumacs propagate both by seed (spread by birds and other animals through their droppings), and by new sprouts from rhizomes, forming large clonal colonies.
The drupes of the genus Rhus are ground into a deep-red or purple powder used as a spice in Middle Eastern cuisine to add a lemony taste to salads or meat; in the Turkish cuisine e.g. added to salad-servings of kebabs and lahmacun. In North America, the smooth sumac (Rhus glabra), and the staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina), are sometimes used to make a beverage, termed "sumac-ade" or "Indian lemonade" or "rhus juice". This drink is made by soaking the drupes in cool water, rubbing them to extract the essence, straining the liquid through a cotton cloth and sweetening it. Native Americans also used the leaves and berries of the smooth and staghorn sumacs combined with tobacco in traditional smoking mixtures.

Species including the fragrant sumac (Rhus aromatica), the littleleaf sumac (R. microphylla), the skunkbush sumac (R. trilobata), the smooth sumac and the staghorn sumac are grown for ornament, either as the wild types or as cultivars.

The leaves of certain sumacs yield tannin (mostly pyrogallol), a substance used in vegetable tanning. Leather tanned with sumac is flexible, light in weight, and light in color, even bordering on being white.

Dried sumac wood is fluorescent under long-wave UV light. Mowing of sumac is not a good control measure as the wood is springy resulting in jagged, sharp pointed stumps when mowed. The plant will quickly recover with new growth after mowing. See Nebraska Extension Service publication G97-1319 for suggestions as to control.

At times Rhus has held over 250 species. Recent molecular phylogeny research suggests breaking Rhus sensu lata into Actinocheita, Baronia, Cotinus, Malosma, Searsia, Toxicodendron, and Rhus sensu stricta. If this is done, about 35 species would remain in Rhus. However, the data is not yet clear enough to settle the proper placement of all species into these genera.


Sumac Flower
animal plant
Image by bill barber
From my set entitled ‘Sumac”
www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/sets/72157607186471302/
In my collection entitled “The Garden”
www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/collections/7215760718...

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumac
Sumac (also spelled sumach) is any one of approximately 250 species of flowering plants in the genus Rhus and related genera, in the family Anacardiaceae. The dried berries of some species are ground to produce a tangy purple spice often used in juice.

Sumacs grow in subtropical and warm temperate regions throughout the world, especially in North America.

Sumacs are shrubs and small trees that can reach a height of 1-10 meters. The leaves are spirally arranged; they are usually pinnately compound, though some species have trifoliate or simple leaves. The flowers are in dense panicles or spikes 5-30 cm long, each flower very small, greenish, creamy white or red, with five petals. The fruits form dense clusters of reddish drupes called sumac bobs.

Sumacs propagate both by seed (spread by birds and other animals through their droppings), and by new sprouts from rhizomes, forming large clonal colonies.
The drupes of the genus Rhus are ground into a deep-red or purple powder used as a spice in Middle Eastern cuisine to add a lemony taste to salads or meat; in the Turkish cuisine e.g. added to salad-servings of kebabs and lahmacun. In North America, the smooth sumac (Rhus glabra), and the staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina), are sometimes used to make a beverage, termed "sumac-ade" or "Indian lemonade" or "rhus juice". This drink is made by soaking the drupes in cool water, rubbing them to extract the essence, straining the liquid through a cotton cloth and sweetening it. Native Americans also used the leaves and berries of the smooth and staghorn sumacs combined with tobacco in traditional smoking mixtures.

Species including the fragrant sumac (Rhus aromatica), the littleleaf sumac (R. microphylla), the skunkbush sumac (R. trilobata), the smooth sumac and the staghorn sumac are grown for ornament, either as the wild types or as cultivars.

The leaves of certain sumacs yield tannin (mostly pyrogallol), a substance used in vegetable tanning. Leather tanned with sumac is flexible, light in weight, and light in color, even bordering on being white.

Dried sumac wood is fluorescent under long-wave UV light. Mowing of sumac is not a good control measure as the wood is springy resulting in jagged, sharp pointed stumps when mowed. The plant will quickly recover with new growth after mowing. See Nebraska Extension Service publication G97-1319 for suggestions as to control.

At times Rhus has held over 250 species. Recent molecular phylogeny research suggests breaking Rhus sensu lata into Actinocheita, Baronia, Cotinus, Malosma, Searsia, Toxicodendron, and Rhus sensu stricta. If this is done, about 35 species would remain in Rhus. However, the data is not yet clear enough to settle the proper placement of all species into these genera.


The girl with coppery eyes / La chica de los ojos cobrizos
animal plant
Image by . SantiMB .
Aniés, Huesca (Spain).

View Large On White

Well, I don't know if girl... or boy.

Bien, no sé si chica... o chico.

ENGLISH
Green lacewings are insects in the large family Chrysopidae of the order Neuroptera. There about 85 genera and (differing between sources) 1,300-2,000 species in this widespread group. Members of the genera Chrysopa and Chrysoperla are very common in North America and Europe; they are very similar and many of their species have been moved from one genus to the other times and again, and in the non-scientific literature assignment to Chrysopa and Chrysoperla can rarely be relied upon. Since they are the most familiar neuropterids to many people, they are often simply called "lacewings". But actually most of the diversity of Neuroptera are properly referred to as some sort of "lacewing", so common lacewings is preferable.

Green lacewings are delicate insects with a wingspan of 6 to over 65 mm, though the largest forms are tropical. They are characterized by a wide costal field in their wing venation, in which the cross-veins are. The bodies are usually bright green to greenish-brown, and the compound eyes are conspicuously golden in many species. The wings are usually translucent with a slight iridescence; some have green wing veins or a cloudy brownish wing pattern. The vernacular name "stinkflies", used chiefly for Chrysopa species but also for others (e.g. Cunctochrysa) refers to their ability to release a vile smell from paired prothoracal glands when handled.

While depending on species and environmental conditions, some green lacewings will eat only about 150 prey items in their entire life, in other cases 100 aphids will be eaten in a single week. Thus, in several countries, millions of such voracious Chrysopidae are reared for sale as biological control agents of insect and mite pests in agriculture and gardens. They are distributed as eggs, since as noted above they are highly aggressive and cannibalistic in confined quarters; the eggs hatch in the field. Their performance is variable; thus, there is a lot of interest in further research to improve the use of green lacewings as biological pest control.

Gardeners can attract lacewings, and therefore their larvae, to gardens by using companion plants. They are attracted by angelica, dill, coreopsis, cosmos, sunflowers, and the beneficial weed, dandelion.

More info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysopidae

--------------------------------------

CASTELLANO
Los crisópidos (Chrysopidae) son una familia de insectos del orden Neuroptera; reciben los nombres comunes de crisopas, crisopas verdes, crisopas de alas verdes, ojos dorados, león de áfidos, alas de encaje y moscas hediondas, entre otros.

Los adultos son de cuerpo verde a pardo pálido, su venación alar contrasta en sus dos pares de alas transparentes, y sus ojos son dorados o amarillos cobrizos.

Esta familia es cosmopolita, sus miembros habitan especialmente en zonas de gran vegetación y agrícolas. Sus larvas son depredadores de otros artrópodos de cuerpo blando y son también caníbales, y unos pocos adultos son depredadores, como Chrysopa. La mayoría se alimenta de secreciones proteínicas.

Los adultos con aparato bucal masticador, antenas filiformes multisegmentadas, poseen alas con abundante venación, de forma primitiva, en ocasiones las emplean para emitir sonidos, y casi todas las especies poseen allí un órgano timpánico, carente en la primitiva subfamilia Nothochrysinae, que sirve para evadir a los murciélagos. Las patas son marchadoras. El abdomen es largo y carece de cercos. Especies del género Meleoma, poseen órganos productores de chirridos. Como medio defensivo producen una sustancia lacrimógena anal cuando huyen de un ataque.

El cortejo de los crisópidos es complejo y ritual, producen vibraciones de gran complejidad que únicamente son reconocidas por miembros de la misma especie. Unas pocas especies producen olores durante el cortejo. Tanto los machos como las hembras realizan varias cópulas, las hembras aproximadamente cada 28 días, los machos dos seguidas cada 5 días como promedio. En la cópula realizan diferentes posturas y es relativamente larga. La longevidad está relacionada con el tipo de alimentación durante el período larval, y la capacidad de oviposición y cantidad de huevos con la misma pero durante el periodo adulto.

Por ser en su mayoría depredadores generalistas, algunos crisópidos han sido utilizados para programas de control de plagas; el género que más estudio ha tenido ha sido la cosmopolita Chrysoperla y otras en menor grado, especialmente representantes de la subfamilia Chrysopinae.

Para la producción masiva se utilizan huevos de Sitotroga cerealella, y larvas de Phthorimea operculella, o sea dietas naturales, las dietas artificiales aunque más económicas no han tenido éxito. Los módulos de producción logran producir hasta 2.000.000 de huevos diarios, pueden ser automáticos o semimanuales; lo que eleva más los costes es el evitar el canibalismo, hay que usar sustratos, diseños especiales y liberaciones oportunas.

Ya aplicadas en campo pueden ser para trabajos inoculativos (introducción), incrementativos (elevar la población local) o inundativos. Los adultos pueden sobrevivir y reproducirse rociando melazas enriquecidas para su alimentación.

En manejo de control de plagas han controlado con éxito ácaros, áfidos, larvas de lepidópteros, heminópteros fitófagos, por ello son de gran interés para la Entomología Económica en la agricultura.

Más info: es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysopidae

Trepadeira - Certhia brachydactyla - Short-toed Tree Creeper

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Trepadeira - Certhia brachydactyla - Short-toed Tree Creeper
animal picture
Image by Jose Sousa
Picture taken:
Arrábida - Setubal - Portugal

More Certhia brachydactyla by me

Mais Trepadeiras dos Flickr's Lusófonos

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ltodi.est.ips.pt/jsousa


Pisco de peito ruivo - Erithacus rubecula - European Robin
animal picture
Image by Jose Sousa
Picture taken:
Arrábida - Setúbal - Portugal

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ltodi.est.ips.pt/jsousa


Cegonha branca - Ciconia ciconia - White Stork
animal picture
Image by Jose Sousa
Picture taken
Estuário do Sado - Setúbal - Portugal

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Nice Animal Shelter photos

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view to the house from the top of the potager
animal shelter
Image by hardworkinghippy
The Ceanothus is spectacular and is useful in a vegetable garden because it fixes nitrogen.


The lampshade's running away!
animal shelter
Image by stevevoght
Poor Wiley somehow got a corneal abrasion (probably while tussling with Jasper), so he's stuck with a collar for a week to prevent him from rubbing at it.


El pasillo entre los refugios. The walkway between shelter zones
animal shelter
Image by AmazonCARES
Our jungle property at Cabo Lopez is home to volunteer facilities, a multi-use "maloca," used for children's education, shelter dog check-ups, and mobile clinics, as well as our no kill animal sanctuary.

The shelter is in danger. Please read this article to learn more.

amazoncares.blogspot.com/2009/04/please-save-our-no-kill-...

Any donation is much needed and appreciated. To help us in a serious time of need, please visit ihcenter.org/groups/amazoncares.html

Nice Animal Pics photos

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Costa Rica by Carmen James
animal pics
Image by Frontierofficial
Excellent pics from a volunteer on our Costa Rica Big Cats, Primates & Turtle Conservation Project. For more info on this experience, please check out our website: bit.ly/echPXm


Costa Rica by Carmen James
animal pics
Image by Frontierofficial
Excellent pics from a volunteer on our Costa Rica Big Cats, Primates & Turtle Conservation Project. For more info on this experience, please check out our website: bit.ly/echPXm

05/06/2009 6:52 PM - Vita

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05/06/2009 6:52 PM - Vita
animal protection
Image by Barbara.Doduk
www.rapsociety.com/catsanctuary


July 24, 2009 5:03 PM - Foxy
animal protection
Image by Barbara.Doduk
www.rapsociety.com/catsanctuary

Museum of Science: Hungry turtle lunges for her lunch

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Museum of Science: Hungry turtle lunges for her lunch
animal control
Image by Chris Devers
They kept feeding this gal pieces of lettuce while it walked around on a stage eating them.

There wasn't enough light to get very fast shots, so I was just laying the camera on the stage and running longer exposures, which worked, but meant that I had less control over what actually happened in the shot.

In this example, I like how her foot is still & sharp, and the head is blurred as she swallows her lunch. Turtles are supposed to be slow & shy, right? She certainly was neither.


R2-D2 rolls through
animal control
Image by ratsinis
The fully remote controlled R2 they have is awesome.

Whaddaya mean, "Sheep on one side, goats on the other?!"

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Whaddaya mean, "Sheep on one side, goats on the other?!"
animal friends
Image by bott.richard
My child left her friends curled up on the couch. When I wandered by, I noticed them partying together.


DooDad
animal friends
Image by puck90
Available for adoption at Best Friends Animal Society


Felicia's Last Photos 6
animal friends
Image by Stephanie Booth
Felicia was the cat of a friend of mine. She was sadly killed by a car only a few days after I took these photographs.

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