National Park Planner does not normally review non-National Park Service related sites or activities, but if you are coming to Brices Cross Roads and want something more to do than stare at a monument on the one-acre Brices Cross Roads National Battlefield Site, you might as well drive around the battlefield. The area is large, so a tour is done in your vehicle. There are also a few short walks along interpretive trails for you to stretch your legs on.
Three distinct organizations have assembled some type of tour of the battlefield area: the state of Mississippi, the Civil War Preservation Trust, and the Brice’s Crossroads National Battlefield Commission. However, it is very easy to combine all of these into one, and truth be told, I doubt anyone really cares which organization came up with a particular stop.
The tour starts at the Mississippi’s Final Stands Interpretive Center (607 Grisham Street in Baldwyn). Here you can watch a film about the battle and peruse exhibits in a small museum. There is an admission fee, but this is the only place where you can get information on the battle. Your tour of the battlefield will definitely make more sense if you know something about the battle beforehand.
The Brices Crossroads battlefield isn’t preserved in its entirety. Bits and pieces are scattered around the area east of Baldwyn, Mississippi, and while stops along the way tell what happened at a particular location, you can’t always figure out where you are in the overall scheme of the battle. Wayside exhibits with a YOU ARE HERE dot on a battlefield map with arrows pointing out Union and Confederate troop movements would be nice, but they are often missing from the tour stops. It is therefore advantageous to bring with you a battlefield map before embarking. The National Park Service’s brochure has a decent map, and you can pick one up at Mississippi’s Final Stands Interpretive Center. To complete the tour, including hiking two short battlefield trails, allow 3 to 4 hours.
You can take a virtual tour of the Brices Crossroads battlefield by using the following links. At the bottom of each tour stop web page is a navigation menu that allows you to visit the next or previous tour stop. The map below the links shows the location of all 12 stops on the tour.
Stops 1-6: Mississippi State Historical Markers
Stop 7: Brices Cross Roads National Battlefield Site
Stop 8: Bethany Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church Cemetery
Stop 9: Log Cabin Knoll
Stop 10: Tishomingo Creek Bridge
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Last updated on February 3, 2024