Yesterday I chatted with you about
the cemetery and added the photo of James A Grubbs headstone. I had a few
inquiries about the hand on the stone. Hands carved into gravestones represent the
deceased’s relationship with GOD. James has a hand on his that shows a finger
pointing upward. This symbolizes a hope of heaven. His family hopes he is in
heaven. It points toward a heavenly reward where his soul has risen to heaven.
I did a quick search for James and
found nothing about him. Now I am curious about him and his wife Sarah.
Perhaps I will hunt up their ghosts and share my finds with you.
While at the Grand Gulf Military
Park a staff member mentioned that by taking back roads out of the park we
could get up close and personal with the Mississippi River, the nuke plant,
Fort Wade, Fort Cobun, Windsor Plantation and the Old Country store. We shall visit these.
On the grounds are numerous rifle
pits, a carriage house with a Civil War Ambulance, a blacksmith shop and the
old jail cells from the town of Grand Gulf. Inside the carriage house are two
old hearses brought in from New Orleans.
There is a church, a dog trot house, a water “Wheel
House”, and even an old one man submarine powered by a Ford Model T engine that
was used during prohibition to bootleg whiskey into Mississippi.
A mortar stands watch toward the
Mississippi river that once graced the decks of a Union ship.
Grand Gulf was settled by the French
in 1790 and soon became a glittering gem for Mississippi with a large
population, 2 churches, a hospital, a theater and was a vital stopping point
for the Showboats that cruised up and down the river. A Large whirlpool on the
Mississippi side of the river created over time a natural gulf and made for an
excellent port. Cotton moved in and out for shipment regularly. It was even a
contender to be named the capital city. Then in 1843 a massive yellow fever
epidemic took many lives. This was followed by a large destructive tornado
in 1853. Extreme flooding by the river one year demolished and swept away 55
city blocks from Grand Gulf. By the time the Civil War raged through there were
only 200 people left in the once “grand” city.
The Battle of Grand Gulf was one of
the most massive and intense Union Naval Battles of the Civil War. It was at
first a Confederate Victory but the ever determined Grant eventually won it for
the Union by landing about 24,000 troops at nearby Bruinsburg making this the
largest Amphibius landing during a war broken only by the Normandy
Landing. Nothing remains of Bruinsburg,
the Mississippi swept it away. Grand Gulf
became a ghost town.
Did you know that bees have three
photoreceptors in their eyes the same as humans do? We see the colors red, blue
and green and all combinations of those colors; bees see blue- green, blue-violet
and ultraviolet. Bees will not leave
their hives if deprived of UV light. The beautiful flowers we see appear in a
very different way to a bee. Since they do not see red, a red flower amongst
green leaves appears as just more green leaves. I tell you this because on the day we visited
Grand Gulf Seamus was wearing a striped shirt with rows of black, white, blue
and red. The bees were buzzing around
him like he was their favorite flower. He was ducking and running and twirling
like a dervish (a meditative dance performed by an order of Turkish monks to
achieve religious ecstasy).
As I said, I saw black, white, blue and red on
Seamus' shirt. Here is what the bees saw…
ME BEE
Black Black
White Blue-Green
Blue Blue and in the UV light - Violet
Red Black and in the UV light – Violet
He looked like a delicious bed of
flowers. I apologize there is no video.
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