Tupelo National Battlefield

in mid-July 1864, upwards of 20,000 men clashed in fields surrounding Tupelo, Mississippi. Confederate forces caused Union troops to retreat back to Memphis. However, winning the battle at Tupelo wasn't the plan. Gen. William T. Sherman had a bigger prize in mind.

Union Maj. Gen. Andrew J. Smith led his forces on an advance into Mississippi in July. By the time his men reached Tupelo, a corp of mounted infantry met the advance. Confederate Maj. Gen. Nathan Forrest tried several times to outflank his counterpart to no avail. Despite hot and humid temperatures, Smith's troops held their lines for as long as possible. Forrest was out of action for three weeks with an injury following the battle.

That was all Smith needed. The goal of the action in Tupelo was to keep Confederate forces from getting too close to Sherman's huge army. He was marching towards Atlanta, and to the Atlantic coast at Savannah, Georgia.

Memorials and cannons at the battlefield park commemorate the men who fought here. One regimen included the United States Colored Troops. The visitor's center gives you an idea of what happened at the site with interpretive displays and artifacts. Today, the battlefield memorial is a flat green space surrounded by trees and modern buildings.