Tales from the road: Going 'nuclear' in Grand Gulf, Mississippi

Mac Drake bought a copy of my book, cementing his place among my favorite Mississippians.

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To get to remote and sleepy Grand Gulf, Miss., where Confederates beat back a determined attack by Ulysses Grant on April 29, 1863, I drive 10 miles below the speed limit on a curvy, two-lane road. After suffering the indignity of a speeding ticket during a Civil War sojourn in the wilds of South Carolina in early October, I’m not keen on breaking any more bad news to Mrs. B.

About two miles past the entrance to a nuclear power plant — the most powerful in the U.S., according to sources — I pull into the parking lot for the Grand Gulf Civil War museum. (Entry: five bucks.) It’s manned this afternoon by a gem of a human named Mac Drake, who regales me with nuclear power plant humor that we plan to keep just between us.

Sleepy Grand Gulf was engulfed by civil war, too.

“I like messing with people about the plant,” he tells me with a twinkle in his eye.

Drake is a descendant of a Confederate soldier named Henry H. Myers of the “Liberty Hall Volunteers” of the 4th Virginia, which saw hard fighting throughout the Eastern Theater — including at Sharpsburg (Antietam to us Northerners), Fredericksburg and Gettysburg. According to family lore, Robert E. Lee gifted a chair to Myers — it still remains with the Drakes.

The small but excellent Grand Gulf museum, roughly a half mile from the Mississippi River, is filled with historical treasure: a letter from George Washington, a bullet-riddled U.S. Army belt plate found by Burnside Bridge after Antietam and the usual assortment of artillery shells, muskets and Civil War accoutrements that Mrs. B will never let in our house.

A Mastadon leg bone. Hi ho!

“Hey, is that a Mastadon leg bone ?” I say to myself.

Sure enough, the remains of the prehistoric animal rest in all their glory in a display case.

Before departing, I try to persuade Mac to gift me one of the artillery shells, but he doesn’t bite. However, I strongarm him into purchasing a copy of my book and posing with it for a photo — acts that propel him to No. 2 on my ranking of Mississippians, just behind my “psychotic connection, Sid Champion V of Champion Hill battlefield renown, and Bud Hall. (They are co-No. 1s.)

What a great visit. Let’s keep history alive. 👊

Grand Gulf is the first Civil War-related site I've visited near a nuclear power plant.