One side of a double-sided historic marker along E Main Street, this side of the marker preserves the history of the Tupelo Swamp Road.
The marker reads as follows:
"The Tupelo Swamp
Military strategists agree that when two forces of equal size oppose one another, the defending force has the advantage. Tupelo's geography emphasized that point during the war. Surrounded north, east and south by creek bottoms and a long sloping ridge to the west, any force trying to dislodge an enemy occupying Tupelo faced an almost insurmountable task - the "Tupelo Swamp." To move an army across that bottomland was almost impossible with trees, water flowing in open areas, snakes, insects and brambles. The mud was so deep it could pull the shoes off soldiers' feet as they attempted to walk through it.
Union forces were successful in damaging Tupelo twice during the war. In May 1863 at the Battle of Kings Creek, Confederates left the village virtually unguarded, and again in July 1864 those forces vacated the town in an attempt to intercept a perceived Union advance toward Okolona. Ironically, during the Battle of Tupelo, the Confederate army found itself in the unenviable position of having to attack Union forces posted on the western ridge."
Date: 2012
Placed by Tupelo Civil War Trail
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