Brice's Crossroad Mississippi

The Battle of Brice's Crossroads was fought on June 10, 1864, near Baldwyn, Mississippi. It pitted a 4,787-man contingent led by Confederate Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest against an 8,100-strong Union force led by Brigadier General Samuel D. Sturgis. The battle ended in a rout of the Union forces and cemented Forrest's reputation as one of the great cavalrymen.

The battle remains a textbook example of an outnumbered force prevailing through better tactics, terrain mastery, and aggressive offensive action. Despite this, the Confederates gained little through the victory other than temporarily keeping the Union out of Alabama and Mississippi.

Although the hubster and I aren't big fans of Nathan Bedford Forrest by any means (mainly because of his ill treatment of African Americans and because of a certain organization he founded) we were excited to see Brice's Crossroads because of the seemingly impossible victory Forrest led his men to there. That's why we were disappointed when we got there only to find the visitors center closed that day. Without the information from the visitor center all you really see is a couple of cannons and a monument at an intersection.

 

Nonetheless, we got out of our trusty Nissan Pathfinder and toured the small lot. I pulled out my voice recorder and attempted to make contact with the spirits I could feel hovering around. Although we were there less than ten minutes, I got the voice of a young male spirit saying, "Bring me my father." And an EVP of another male saying, "Nothing good was done in that group."

This is a battlefield we'll be returning to on a day when the visitors center is open. It gives us a good excuse to head down to Mississippi again so we can follow the burger trail and try a slug burger. (We're told no slugs are harmed in the making of a slug burger, so don't worry.)

 

Shiloh Battlefield TN

Memorial Day weekend, the open road took us on a three day tour of Civil War battlefields in the south. Just three battlefields, but they were interesting ones. The first was Shiloh, in Tennessee.

I must admit, Shiloh has been on our bucket list for some time now. I don't know why it's taken us so long to finally go to Shiloh, but I'm glad we did. An interesting side note about Shiloh; A couple of years ago I was conducting a paranormal investigation of a toy museum that was housed in a livery stable that was built in 1815 (or thereabouts). One of my investigators and I were talking about Civil War battlefields we've toured and he mentioned having been to Shiloh. I said, "Isn't that around Washington DC?" Before he had a chance to respond, a male spirit answered in a class A EVP, "It's in Georgia I think." Number one, it's interesting to know that when you become a spirit you don't automatically know everything. And number two, spirits like being a part of the conversation too.

Anyway, Shiloh is touted as being one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. So I knew to expect a lot of spirits to be hanging around. What I didn't expect was the enormous crowds of live people. I think with it being Memorial Day, that brought them out in droves. My mind hadn't made the connection of Military park = large crowds on a weekend where we honor those who have died in battle. What can I say; I can be a little (or a lot) slow sometimes.

They had re-enactors camped out in front of the visitors center, representing every war Americans have fought in from the Revolutionary War all the way through the war in Afghanistan. They had all sorts of displays from military vehicles to day to day things like Army issue soap and chewing gum. And of course there were numerous guns, swords and even grenades. It was really interesting when all of the reenactors demonstrated the guns they used for their particular war. We've really come a long way with our killing machines and it was fascinating to see how far we have progressed since 1776.

 

There was a movie about the battle showing at the visitor center but we bypassed it. We began our tour of the battlefield at the end actually, in the cemetery. One of the prettiest military cemeteries I've been in and easily one of the best maintained. The battlefield reminds me of Gettysburg because of the many monuments and cannon replicas scattered around the park.

 

I was interested to learn that the cannons in the park are all facing the way they would have during the battle. I'd never really thought about that before.

 

When I go on a Civil War battlefield I strive to remain reverent and remember the fact that lives were lost in that spot. An easy fact to remember because ever since my open heart surgery a couple of year ago, I can see and hear spirits. Believe me when I say, they're everywhere. But none so prevalent as on a battlefield. Shiloh was no different. When I was at the area called The Hornets Nest, a young man said into my voice recorder, "I helped my brother." I found that especially interesting since the Civil War was known as "Brother against brother."

 

Another class A EVP I caught was by "Bloody Pond" and was a young man saying my name and then my husbands name.  

 

One of the things that surprised me about Shiloh was that it was a battle by water as well, with the Tennessee River border the battlefield. The area of the battlefield known as Pittsburgh Landing was particularly surreal. You find yourself having a difficult time imagining death and carnage occurring at such a beautiful and peaceful spot.

Eventually Beauregard realized he was outnumbered against the Union Army and having already suffered tremendous casualties, he and his remaining Confederate soldiers began a retreat to Corinth Mississippi. So, following in Beauregard's footsteps, once we finished our tour of the battlefield we began the trek to Corinth as well.