The Battle of Grand Gulf was fought on April 29, 1863, during th: In Southern American English, the most populous American "accent group" outside of General American English,[281] rhoticity now strongly prevails, replacing the region's historical non-rhotic prestige.[282][283][284] Southern accents are colloquially described as a "drawl" or "twang",[285] being recognised most readily by the Southern Vowel Shift initiated by glide-deleting in the /aɪ/ vowel (e.g. pronouncing spy almost like spa), the "Southern breaking" of several front pure vowels into a gliding vowel or even two syllables (e.g. pronouncing the word "press" almost like "pray-us"),[286] the pin–pen merger, and other distinctive phonological, grammatical, and lexical features, many of which are actually recent developments of the 19th century or later.[287]