County of marker: Hardeman County
location of marker: Main St. & Market St., courthouse lawn, Bolivar
Marker erected by: Civil War Trails
Marker Text:
BOLIVAR
Strategic Position
Located midway between Memphis and Corinth, Mississippi, Bolivar's position on the Hatchie River (a navigable route to the Mississippi River) and its junction of north-south railroads made it a strategic location for both armies. By the fall of 1862, Union forces had occupied West Tennessee, where they remained until war's end.
Several Union generals quartered in nearby dwellings: Gen. Lew Wallace stayed at the Levi Joy House, while Gens. William T. Sherman, James B. McPherson, and Uylsses S. Grant each used Austin Miller's house (Magnolia Manor) as a headquarters.
Early in 1864, Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest's cavalry re-entered West Tennessee to raid and disrupt Union supply lines. When Union Gen. Samuel D. Sturgis learned that Forrest was in Bolivar, he marched here from Memphis on May 2. After a brief fight, Forrest withdrew to the south. To punish Bolivar for supporting Forrest, Sturgis ordered the courthouse and town square burned to the ground. The Methodist and Baptist churches and most of the business district were also destroyed. Fortunately, the courthouse records were saved. According to local tradition, a Union officer and Freemason contacted fellow Masonic brother Austin Miller and gave Miller two hours advance warning. Miller moved the records to his house. The current courthouse was erected in 1868 to replace the one that burned.
Bolivar's Confederate monument here on the courthouse square is one of the oldest in the state. Local residence began raising funds for the obelisk to commemorate fallen soldiers in 1868, the year that the new courthouse was completed, and erected it in 1873.