Tupelo National Battlefield

Last summer I visited the Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial in Philadelphia, which is the smallest National Park official site. However, it was packed with information, exhibits, video, and such.

Tupelo National Battlefield is certainly among the smallest NPS sites, and I strongly suspect, the smallest battlefield in the system. The entire park fits on a single city lot in downtown Tupelo between a carwash and a law office, across from a church. The site consists of a small monument, two cannons, and a few small memorial markers. The “visitor center” is incorporated into the Natchez Parkway Visitor Center several miles away.

The July 1864 battle came just a month after a pyrrhic victory by Confederate troops at nearby Brices Corner. Though the southern troops had won that battle, their ranks were greatly reduced, and the reinforced Union forces subsequently defeated them at Tupelo. The south had been on the defensive in Mississippi since the 1862 battles of Shiloh and Corinth (sites scheduled for visits later in this trip).

With northern forces beginning their push into Georgia (what would become the infamous “Sherman’s march to the sea”), Confederate leaders were desperate to prevent that move. The Union victory at Tupelo put an end to any southern hopes of saving Georgia.

Though the battlefield shares a visitor center with the Natchez Trace Parkway, Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail, and Brices Crossroads National Battlefield Site, very little information is available in the center. There are no videos for any of the four sites, and only a few park brochures provide limited information.

It was rather nice, though, to be able to get Passport stamps for four different sites at one location.

Steve