The USS Cairo was the lead ship of her class and was named after Cairo in Illinois. She was one of the first American ironclad warships.

One of the great campaigns of the American Civil War was fought down the Mississippi. As the war went on, the Union sought to split the Confederacy in two. To aid in this they built a number of City-class gunboats to provide fire support from the Mississippi River. Next time passing through Vicksburg, take the time to stop and see the USS Cairo - a time capsule drawn from the murky waters of the Mississippi.

The Civil War was a deeply traumatic and defining time for the United States, every year one can see battlefield re-enactments at the hallowed grounds of Gettysburg. There are many other important National Military Parks around the country like at Antietam - the site of the most deadly day of the conflict. On the Mississippi, one of the most important campaigns was the Siege of Vicksburg - and one of the most interesting attractions is the restored Union gunboat, the USS Cairo.

The USS Cairo was the lead ship of her class and was named after Cairo in Illinois. She was one of the first American ironclad warships.

She was one of seven Union ships and a tug that defeated eight Confederate gunboats that led to the capture of the Confederate garrison of Fort Pillow on the Mississippi. This enabled the Union to capture Memphis.

But she was not designed to have a long career. On 12 December 1862 she was sunk by an electronically denoted mine (the first mine to be remotely detonated by hand). She sank in 12 minutes (there were no casualties).

She sank just 7 miles from the linchpin battle of Vicksburg. Today Vicksburg is a National Military Park, and the Siege of Vicksburg was one of the great defining battles of the war.

Vicksburg was the Gibraltar of the Confederacy and was vital to keep the Union from splitting the South. Confederate President Jefferson Davis remarked, "Vicksburg is the nailhead that holds the South’s two halves together.”

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She lay at the bottom of the river for 100 hundred years until she was eventually fished out and today what is left of the USS Cairo can be seen at the Vicksburg National Military Park (along with the museum's other weapons and naval stores).

Initially, recovery efforts had hoped to rise her in one piece, but in the end, she was cut into three sections and as much of her was salvaged as possible. In the salvage operations, a treasure trove of ammunition, naval stores, and weapons, as well as sailors' personal gear were recovered. Today visitors can see her armor and engines.

After her sinking, she was forgotten about and her resting place 36 feet beneath the surface was slowly covered by a layer of silt and mud. This covering cocooned and protected the vessel. Her priceless artifacts became a time capsule preserved in the largely oxygen-free environment.

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Today visitors can see the reconstructed and restored USS Cairo on display at the Vicksburg National Military Park. See the reconstructed USS Cairo itself outside the museum. The museum is made up of two main sections, the museum and the gunboat itself. In the museum, visitors can see the various items recovered from the boat - these include a safety lamp, a fire hose nozzle, medicine bottles, other medical supplies, mess utensils, leather shoes, shaving gear, pulleys, muskets, 19th-century pistols, and much more.

Besides the Cairo, there are only three other Civil War-era ironclads still in existence (or at least their salvaged remains) - the USS Monitor, CSS Neuse, and the CSS Muscogee

The USS Cairo Gunboat and Museum and the greater Vicksburg National Military Park are managed by the National Park Service. They offer a range of tour options from self-guided tours to their informative App, to the option of hiring a Licensed Battlefield Guide.

Aaron is a first-hand traveler who has visited more than 80 countries around the world. He is passionate about traveling and opening up the world for other intrepid explorers. He can be reached on Instagram at aaronspray