Natchez Trace Parkway
Tupelo National Battlefield, MS

This one-acre site commemorates the last major Civil War battle in Mississippi. The engagement at Tupelo, July 14-15, 1864, was part of the effort on the part of Union forces to keep General Nathan Bedford Forrest in northeast Mississippi and away from General William T. Sherman's supply line running from Nashville to Chattanooga.

Federal forces under General A.J. Smith occupied the town of Harrisburg, present day Tupelo. Forrest and his commander General Steven D. Lee, realizing that Smith could take control of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, moved troops to Harrisburg for a two-day battle that would ultimately end in a draw. The Union objective had been achieved, and Sherman's supply line in eastern Tennessee remained open, allowing Sherman to continue his march to the sea.

The site contains two cannons, a monument to the battle, and an interpretive wayside.