Mississippi's Civil War Heritage

Travel America, March, 2001 by Darlene P. Copp

Relive the epic events of the Magnolia State's war-ravaged past

Try traveling anywhere in Mississipi without brushing up against the Civil War. As the second state to secede from the Union and home to Jefferson Davis, destined to lead the Confederate States of America, Mississippi played a key role in the war. Markers, monuments, and museums throughout the state memorialize the 772 military actions on its soil.

Anchor your tour to Corinth, at a strategic railroad crossing in the northeast corner, and Vicksburg, on commanding bluffs above the Mississippi River, each the focus of pivotal campaigns. In between, you can pause in towns that became hospital centers or supply depots overnight. A side trip to the Gulf Coast ties the state's war history together at the retirement home of Jefferson Davis.

Early in the war, Corinth, built at the junction of the Memphis & Charleston and Mobile & Ohio Railroads, bustled as a mobilization center. Determined to protect it, General Albert Sidney Johnston declared, "I would fight them if they were a million" before he provoked the Battle of Shiloh on April 6 and 7, 1862, in nearby Tennessee. Afterwards, the weakened Confederates dug miles of earthworks around Corinth as a Union force totaling 120,000 slowly advanced against them. Rather than sacrifice his army, General P.G.T. Beauregard secretly evacuated the Crossroads of the Confederacy during the night of May 29. In October the Confederates returned for two days of attacks that left nearly 7,000 casualties.

Battery Robinett, the reconstructed site of fierce hand-to-hand combat, highlights a driving tour that also includes Corinth National Cemetery, Shiloh National Military Park (22 miles from Corinth), and other relevant locales from 1862. "A Guide to the Corinth Campaigns," available at Corinth's Civil War Interpretive Center, maps out the tour. Until a National Park facility is built, the center offers an orientation video and an interactive computer exhibit developed by the Civil War Trust. It adjoins the 1857 Curlee House, a tour home and starting point for a self-guided walking tour. For hikers and bikers, a brand new trail connects many wartime sites.

Indoors, you can peruse the Northeast Mississippi Museum's collections of wartime artifacts, photos, and soldiers' correspondence, or C & D Jarnagin's selection of re-enactors' uniforms and mess supplies. This October, hundreds of re-enactors will stage the Battle of Corinth, a biennial event.

Head south to trace the exploits of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest. A visitor center opened in 1998 by the town of Baldwyn relates his gutsy victory over a superior Union force at the June 10, 1864, Battle of Brice's Crossroads. The National Park Service administers the actual battlefield site as well as a one-acre memorial to the Western Campaign of 1864 in nearby Tupelo. To protect Sherman's supply line during his push through Atlanta, Federals tangled with the menacing Forrest again in a sweltering July engagement. Re-enactors portray the Battle of Tupelo in October, while a city museum contains a model of the battle along with military mementos.

Continue south to Columbus, where most houses sheltered wounded soldiers from the Shiloh and Corinth conflicts. More than 100 antebellum homes make Columbus a time capsule of Mississippi's pre-war society second only to Natchez. Spring pilgrimage showcases many of the homes, while several operate year-round as bed-and-breakfasts. At Friendship Cemetery, a group of women decorated both Confederate and Union graves in April 1866, a gesture that is credited with evolving into our national Memorial Day. Each February, the Battles of West Point & Prairie are re-enacted.

Elsewhere in northern Mississippi, Holly Springs managed to preserve 64 antebellum homes despite 62 wartime raids. During spring pilgrimage, you can tour the magnificent house that headquartered the Ulysses S. Grant family while he prepared to assault Vicksburg.

The citizens of centrally located Vicksburg suffered the trauma of war longer than most other Mississippians. When naval bombardment, a northern assault, and amphibious expeditions all failed to topple the Gibraltar of the Confederacy, Grant marched his troops along the Mississippi River through Louisiana, crossed the river below Vicksburg, maneuvered his troops over 200 miles (winning five battles along the way), and attacked from the rear. You can drive his route, much of it unchanged, with the "Guide to the Campaign & Siege of Vicksburg." Ask for it at Vicksburg visitor centers.

At Vicksburg National Military Park, a 16-mile driving tour stops at primary fortifications from Grant's 47-day siege of the city and at stunning monuments erected by the 28 states involved in the conflict. Midway, the U.S.S. Cairo Museum displays an ironclad gunboat raised from its watery grave in 1964. To make the most of your battlefield time, reserve the services of a licensed guide, well worth the $20 per-car fee for a two-hour tour.