Brices Cross Roads National Battlefield Site
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| Brices Cross Roads National Battlefield Site | |
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| IUCN Category V (Protected Landscape/Seascape) | |
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| Location: | Lee County, Mississippi, USA |
| Nearest city: | Tupelo, Mississippi |
| Coordinates: | |
| Area: | 1 acre (4,000 m²) |
| Established: | February 21, 1929 |
| Total Visitation: | 2,035 (in 1983) |
| Governing body: | National Park Service |
Brices Cross Roads National Battlefield Site commemorates the Battle of Brice's Crossroads, in which the Confederate army, under Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest, defeated a much larger Union force on June 10, 1864, to ultimately secure supply lines between Nashville and Chattanooga, Tennessee.
The site preserves only one acre of the much larger historic battlefield. This is the spot where the Brice family house once stood. It is located about 6 miles (10 km) west of Baldwyn, Mississippi, on Mississippi Highway 370. The site features a memorial erected soon after the site's establishment in 1929. In addition, on June 11, 2005, a second memorial was dedicated to Confederate Capt. John W. Morton, Chief of Artillery, and his battery. Brices Cross Roads is the only National Battlefield Site in the United States National Park System.
The modern Bethany Presbyterian Church sits on the southeast side of the crossroads. At the time of the battle this congregation's meeting house was located further south along the Baldwyn Road. However, the Bethany Cemetery adjacent to the Park Service site predates the Civil War. Many of the area's earliest settlers are buried here. The graves of more than 90 Confederate soldiers killed in the battle are also located in this cemetery. Union dead from the battle were buried in common graves on the battlefield, but were later reinterred in Memphis National Cemetery at Memphis, Tennessee.
The Brice's Crossroads Visitor Center is located Baldwyn. It is owned and operated by a public commission. Brice's Crossroads National Battlefield Commission, Inc., formed in 1994 by concerned local citizens, is also involved in protecting the greater battlefield, which is considered one of the most beautiful preserved battlefields of the Civil War. With assistance from the Civil War Preservation Trust (formerly the APCWS and the Civil War Trust), and the support of federal, state, and local governments, the commission has purchased for preservation over 800 acres of the original battlefield.
[edit] Administrative history
The site was established February 21, 1929 and transferred from the War Department to the National Park Service on August 10, 1933. The battlefield was automatically listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. It is administered under the Natchez Trace Parkway.
[edit] Reference
- The National Parks: Index 2001-2003. Washington: U.S. Department of the Interior.
