Tupelo Unveils Fourth Historic Trails Marker

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TUPELO, Miss—The fourth marker on the Tupelo Convention & Visitors Bureau’s Heritage Trails Enrichment Program was unveiled today at the Town Creek Encampment site, across from the Eastwood Softball Complex, in Veterans Park. This is the second marker on the Civil War trail.

“As the Heritage Trails Enrichment Program progresses, we are learning more and more about Tupelo’s storied past,” said Neal McCoy, Executive Director of the Tupelo Convention & Visitors Bureau. “While most people think of places like Vicksburg and Shiloh when they think of important battles in the Civil War, Tupelo also played a major role in Mississippi’s fight, and this Civil War trail is depicting that for our citizens and guests.”

Throughout the Civil War, Tupelo was considered an ideal area for large numbers of troops to camp, train, and recuperate from sickness, wounds, and fatigue. Twice, the Confederate army withdrew to Tupelo with huge concentrations of troops. Over 60,000 soldiers camped on both sides of Town Creek on the hills overlooking the creek after the fall of Corinth in May, 1862. General Hood had over 20,000 troops here after the Confederate defeat at the Battle of Nashville in 1865. Camp life in Tupelo was much easier than many other places as it was located on the northern edge of a fertile farming area known as the “Black Belt,” and was capable of producing enough grain, livestock, and forage to supply the entire Confederate Army of the West.

Four markers have now been placed as part of the first phase of the Heritage Trails Enrichment Program. A total of eight markers will be unveiled during the year as part of this program that was created to identify and interpret historical Chickasaw, Civil Rights & African American Heritage, and Civil War sites in Tupelo and Lee County.