Near Vicksburg [EXPLICIT - V] -

Near Vicksburg exists during the Civil War, specifically, The Siege of Vicksburg. For historical background: On May 18th, 1863, Union troops descending upon Vicksburg, MS and fought for it until July 4th, a total of 47 days. To escape the relentless artillery fire, mortar attacks and bombardments, the citizens of Vicksburg, mostly women, children and soon-to-be-former slaves, dug and hid in a series of 500 caves in the hills and bluffs of the city. The cave dwellers watched as their city was attacked. Near Vicksburg is about three people hiding in one of the claustrophobic caves, Jane Benefield, a middle-class Southern woman, her husband’s slave George and Jane’s teenaged daughter Priscilla (“Cilla”). As the war rages inches away, Jane and George engage in on a tacit, forbidden love affair before Cilla’s judgmental eyes. Although told through the lens of the Civil War, Near Vicksburg serves a disturbing parable on contemporary America. This is a truly modern love story existing outside the iron grip of society and a stark revelation on the progress of racial and sexual politics in America since 1863. This piece was inspired by Mary Ann Loughborough’s first-hand account of the caves, “My Cave Life in Vicksburg.”see less