Brices Cross Roads National Battlefield Site

With Union General Sherman marching through Georgia toward Atlanta, the Confederacy was desperately trying to attack his supply lines. General Nathan Bedford’s mounted infantry was heading into Tennessee with the goal of disrupting the rail lines used to supply Sherman.

At Brices Cross Roads, northern troops sent from Memphis met Forrest’s mounted infantry in an intense battle. Ultimately, the Confederate troops prevailed forcing the Union troops back to Memphis. Unfortunately for the south, they were unable to immediately follow up their victory and Sherman was able to send troops to reinforce those protecting that fragile supply line.

The battle at Tupelo less than a month later ended in a draw, but that was as good as a loss to the south, and Sherman was never threatened from the west again.

Similar to Tupelo Battlefield, a monument stands in a field right at the crossroads that give the battle its name. Unlike Tupelo, though, a city has not grown up around the battlefield with much of the surrounding land remaining rural. The battlefield is maintained by the Brice Cross Roads National Battlefield Commission, who have created a ten-stop driving tour around points of the original battle.

Unlike larger battlefields, many of the stops on this tour are merely signs in front of private properties indicating what happened at or near this spot. There are a few areas where several acres are owned by the park and where a few cannon point toward former “enemy” positions. As a less-known battle, I’m sure the funding for this park is far less than the bigger battles like Gettysburg.

Fortunately, a private non-profit organization has helped preserve 1500 acres of Brices Cross Roads and has an eye on several more acres. This is the American Battlefield Trust, an organization that I have supported for many years. Though they initially started protecting Civil War sites, they now also work at protecting Revolutionary War and War of 1812 sites. If you are disgusted by developers who would plow over historical lands to build half-million-dollar houses or another strip mall, please check them out at battlefields.org. To date, they have helped preserve over 50,000 acres of American history.

Steve