Note: If you plan to visit both the Tupelo and Brices Cross Roads battlefields, which aren’t but a half hour drive apart from each other, start at Brices Cross Roads, for not only did this battle come first in the hunt for Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forest, a non-National Park Service facility, Mississippi’s Final Stands Interpretive Center, is the only place where you can get information on both battles.
PARK OVERVIEW
The Tupelo National Battlefield commemorates the Battle of Tupelo that was fought on July 14-15, 1864, between the army of Union General Andrew J. Smith and Confederate generals Stephen Lee and Nathan Bedford Forrest. Smith was tasked with hunting down and destroying Forrest and his cavalry, as they posed a legitimate risk to General William T. Sherman’s supply line that fueled his campaign against Atlanta. The Union repulsed an attack by Lee and Forrest, and though victorious, eventually withdrew back to Memphis. While Forrest’s cavalry was severely crippled, he was left free to raid Union targets for the remainder of the war.
Today, nothing remains of the battlefield except for a one-acre memorial located in downtown Tupelo on the corner of West Main Street and Monument Drive. A National Park sign marks this corner. The rest of the battlefield was lost long ago to the development of the city of Tupelo.
A visit to the park takes all of fifteen minutes. The grounds contain two monuments, two cannon, two information panels, and the graves of two Confederate soldiers. There is a small parking area along the curb on Monument Drive on the same side as the memorial. There are no other facilities. Being a one-acre lot, there is no visitor center specifically for Tupelo National Battlefield. To get information, use the Natchez Trace Parkway Visitor Center located at Milepost 266 on the Parkway or visit the Tupelo Convention and Visitor Bureau two miles farther east on Main Street. However, don’t expect anyone at these places to be too knowledgeable about the battle. The best source of information is Mississippi’s Last Stands Interpretive Center.
It is unclear as to why two Confederate soldiers are buried at the park, but the area may have been part of the Old Harrisburg Cemetery. The headstones were dedicated in 2012.
John Stone was 50 years old when he enlisted in the Confederate infantry. He retired after one year due to poor health and died the next year. William Cox died at the Battle of Tupelo, originally called the Battle of Harrisburg, as Harrisburg was the larger of the two cities at the time. Tupelo has since outgrown it and the battle has become known by its name.
OPERATING HOURS
The park is officially open during daylight hours, but it’s a corner lot in downtown Tupelo, so I doubt anyone cares when you take a walk around it. The park is not fenced in. However, there are no lights, so you probably can’t see much at night.
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Last updated on December 14, 2021