Down here where the land starts giving way to salt water we are winding up the spring campaign season as you northern guys are getting geared up to continue on through the summer months.  Down here were the salt content will make concrete rust, we just flat wimp out during June, July, and most of August.  Those of you who attended the Vicksburg event not too long ago got a dose of the reason behind the summer hiatus.  We are looking at a high of 90 degrees today and May has not yet ended.

Most all of the Civil War surrender emphasis is placed on Appomattox Courthouse and Lee/Grant.    A smattering is placed on North Carolina and Sherman/Johnston.  Hardly any at all is placed on the third surrender site east of the Mississippi.  The negotiations for said surrender occurred at Magee Farm, in present day Kushla, AL.  The actual surrender was conducted approximately twenty miles up the road at Citronelle, AL.

Some of us are gathering at the Citronelle Museum for a tour here in a few days.  Then we will go to what is locally referred to as the Surrender Oak for a picnic lunch.  The Surrender Oak is a Live Oak that was present during that surrender.  I wish some of you guys who were on the winning side could come and join us.  We are looking forward to a good time.

All that marks this surrender site is a single historical marker.  This is an example of the Civil War in the South.  Right here in this immediate area are Ship Island, Ft Twiggs/Massachusetts, the Blakeley battlefield (complete with shopping mall,) an electrical substation occupies the site where the Hunley was built, Fort Morgan, Ft Gaines, the Battle of Mobile Bay and several sites of large skirmishes.  Slip over into the Florida panhandle and you have all of the Civil War related stuff in and around Pensacola.  It is a history rich area for the Civil War.  Those people doing other eras have an equally large helping with Fort Maurepas,  Fort Conde, Fort Bowers, and the Old Spanish Fort (which is not a fort at all, but supposedly the oldest building in the Ohio/Mississippi River drainage area)  Later on in the Mississippi Territory era there is the pre-Creek Indian war site of Fort Mims.  So much to choose from.  Too much to give everything the historical reverence it deserves.