Brice's Cross Roads

Presented By

Brian Brown

In the spring of 1864, General William Tecumseh Sherman led more that 100,000 Union soldiers into northern Georgia. His mission was to capture the city of Atlanta, a vital center of transportation and industry. The city’s fall would be a staggering blow to the already faltering southern Confederacy. To protect his army’s vulnerable supply lines, Sherman ordered Union forces at Memphis, Tennessee to march into North Mississippi. Their job was to find and, if possible, destroy Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest and his Confederate cavalry.

On the morning of June 10, 1864, Union and Confederate troops clashed near Baldwyn, Mississippi along the sleepy wooded lanes around Brice’s Crossroads. Forrest led elements of his cavalry corps in a bloody daylong battle against a much larger Union army commanded by Brigadier General Samuel D. Sturgis. Fighting in the sweltering heat, Forrest used his superior knowledge of the enemy, aggressive tactics and favorable terrain to win one of the most decisive victories of the American Civil War, completely routing Sturgis’ expeditionary force, and capturing most of their weapons and supplies. 

Located on Mississippi Hwy 370 six miles west of Baldwyn, a one-acre site commemorates the battle, which had one objective -- make impossible the threat of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest to interfere with General William T. Sherman's railroad supply line from Nashville to Chattanooga during the Atlanta campaign. 

This June, you can watch the 141ST Anniversary Reenactment of the Battle of Brice’s Crossroad.

For information on lodging and restaurant information, please visit

http://www.bricescrossroads.com/battle.htm

Brian Brown is a Little Rock attorney who practices law with the Laser Law Firm (he plans to keep practicing until he eventually gets it right!).  He has been a member of the Roundtable since age 10, has been president a couple of times over the years, and has been treasurer since the dawn of time.   He is the author of a book on Civil War genealogical research, and really needs no introduction. Brian will be going to Pea Ridge with Bill Shea on a tour the prior weekend.

 

(1828 - 1864)

Patrick Ronayne Cleburne

Patrick Ronayne Cleburne, one of two foreign-born officers to attain the rank of major general in the Confederate Service, was born March 17, 1828 in Bridgepark Cottage on the River Bride, ten miles west of Cork, Ireland.  After a three year enlistment in Her Majesty's regiment of Foot, he purchased his discharge and emigrated to the United States, in 1849, landing at New Orleans,   Educated as an apothecary, he first worked in Cincinnati but soon took up residence in Helena, Arkansas, where he became a partner in a drugstore, and then studied law.  

By the outbreak of the Civil War, he had become successful in the legal profession, and had accumulated considerable property.  He was elected colonel of the 15th Arkansas in 1861, and was promoted brigadier general rank from March 4, 1862.  The month following he led a brigade at Shiloh and later commanded a brigade at Perryville and a division at Richmond.  His promotion to Major General dated from December 13, 1862.  Cleburne rapidly established a reputation as a superb combat officer on every battlefield of the Western Army.  He further distinguished himself at Murfreesboro, and received a vote of thanks from the Confederate Congress for saving the trains of the Army of Tennessee after the Chattanooga campaign.  A savage fighter of the Bedford Forrest stamp, his death at the battle of Franklin, on November 30, 1864, in the forefront of his division, was a calamity to the Confederate cause perhaps only exceeded by the demise of Stonewall Jackson. General Cleburne was the first to suggest (in a circular letter) the arming of slaves and their masters into military service, a plan belatedly put forth by the Confederate government at the end of the war.  First buried near Franklin, Cleburne's remains were later moved to Helena, Arkansas.  

In 1985, the Pine Bluff Sons of Confederate Veterans named their Camp after General Cleburne because the Jefferson Guard, a Pine Bluff company, served under the general, in the 15th Arkansas. The Camp has sponsored a memorial service each year since for General Cleburne. 

The 20th Annual Patrick R. Cleburne Memorial Service was held in Helena on March 19.  The Gen. Patrick Cleburne Camp, Sons of Confederate Veterans, the Col. Robert Shaver Camp, SCV, the Gen. Robert Newton Camp, SCV, and Company D, 1st Arkansas Reenactors, sponsor the event. It is held each year in the Confederate section of the Maple Hill Cemetery.

Dr. Michael B, Dougan, was the Key Speaker, at the event. Dr. Dougan is a history professor at the Arkansas State University, in Jonesboro and an author of several history books, an outstanding historian and excellent speaker.  

(Ref.; "Generals in Gray" by: Ezra J. Warner, Published by Louisiana State University Press 1991)

 

COMING PROGRAMS

June 28, 2005 –

 July 26, 2005 – TBA

 August 23, 2004 – TBA

October 25, 2004 –
TBA

November 22, 2005 –
Dave Gruenewald –

December 2005 –

No meeting Scheduled in December

From February’s Meeting

Don Hamilton reported on the Adopt-A-Park program and the park that the Roundtable has adopted. As summer rolls around, your help is solicited. Contact Don about the needs and a Saturday work event. 

Mike Loum, chair of the CACWHT, reported that the foundation had its annual meeting and the goals for the Central District were set. 

Central Arkansas Civil War Heritage Trail (CACWHT) has selected the following five areas as project priorities. Each is progressing at its own speed.

1. Reed's Bridge Battlefield project

2. Confederate Soldiers' Home

3. Confederate Cemetery

4. Bayou Fourche panel

5. Monument identification, location, condition, National Register status

The CACWHT meets at 7 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday of each month, jointly with the Civil War Roundtable of Little Rock (except in December, when there is no meeting) at the John Gould Fletcher Library at H and Buchanan streets in Little Rock.  The Civil War Roundtable programs are excellent and guests are encouraged and welcome to attend. For more information, contact Mike Loum <61shelbysmule65@comcast.net>.

 

 

A Reminder About Your 2005 Dues
 

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http://civilwarbuff.aristotle.net/newsletter.asp

 

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In the National Cemetery Little Rock

The granite and bronze Minnesota Monument was dedicated to 162 Minnesota soldiers who fell in Arkansas during the Civil War. Erected in 1916, it is one of seven Minnesota monuments found in the national cemeteries. The memorialized soldiers were enlisted in the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, and 10th Minnesota U.S. Volunteers. The sculptor was John K. Daniels of St. Paul, Minn.

Texas Civil War Organizations

      Buy land at Brice’s Crossroads 

A four-acre tract that marks the grave of a Confederate soldier killed during the battle of Brice’s Crossroads near Baldwyn, Mississippi has been preserved, thanks to the efforts of two Texas Civil War Roundtables and the Civil War Preservation Trust. 

The property, which is northwest of the crossroads, is a wooded area where two cedar trees shade the grave of Sergeant James C. Jourdon. He was a cavalryman in the 17th Alabama Battalion commanded by Major J.N. George, Colonel William A. Johnson’s Alabama Brigade. He was killed during the pursuit of General Sturgis by Confederate forces and buried near the Phillips House on the old Ripley Road. His grave was later marked at the site where he fell. 

Ed Bearss, Historian Emeritus, National Park Service, praised the significance of the purchase.  “I enthusiastically endorse the purchase of the tract containing the grave of Sergeant Jourdan. Not only because of the significance of the ground, but the site includes land associated both with the Union advance and with flight. It is land intimately identified with Sturgis’ rout, underscoring why the Battle of Brice’s Cross Roads is so significant. 

It also underscores General Nathan Bedford Forrest’s philosophy of war to get the ‘skeer’ on the enemy and keep them ‘skeered.’’ Hopefully, other small tracts associated with the Union rout such as a sight near the Agnew house, Hatchie Bottom, of painful memory to the federals; and the Stubbs farm can be acquired for the positioning of additional interpretive markers, he said. 

This hallowed ground will now be a part of the sites that interpret the battle.  

“This acquisition brings to our total over 1450 acres and $3 million raised for land acquisition and interpretation at Brice’s Crossroads,” said John Haynes, executive director of the Brice’s Crossroads National Battlefield Commission. 

The Austin, Texas and Waco, Texas Civil War Roundtables raised money for this acquisition during the annual Texas Civil War Preservation Seminar in November 2001 with the help of the Harold B. Simpson History Center and Hill College. Three hundred people attended this fundraiser where funds were raised specifically for Brice’s Crossroads. 

Gary Carnathan, president of BCNBC, Inc. praised the work of the Texas Civil War Roundtable. “The preservation of Brice’s Crossroads Battlefield has attracted national interest and Texas has made substantial contribution tour efforts,” said Carnathan. 

Dan Laney, who is president of the Austin, Texas Civil War Roundtable and also a board member of the Civil War Preservation Trust, worked with John Haynes, who is also a member of the Trust’s board, to make the acquisition a reality in February, 2002. 

“Each year, during our Preservation Seminar, we focus on a topic and last year’s topic was Nathan Bedford Forrest. What better place to donate the funds raised at this seminar than at Brice’s Crossroads,” said Laney. 

Laney and his roundtable raised $10,400 at the Preservation seminar in 2001, which was given to the CWPT and earmarked for preservation at Brice’s Crossroads. 

“We have raised $100,000 during the past years which has gone toward the purchase of hallowed land on the sites of Civil War battlefields across the nation and to support the History Center at Hill College in Hillsboro, Texas,” Laney added. 

James Lighthizer, president of the Civil War Preservation Trust, commended the audacious leadership of the Austin and Waco Texas Civil War Roundtable efforts. 

“These two groups form one of the premier preservation organizations in the Country. Their preservation of our American history will be a wonderful gift to the future generations of America. 

The four acres will now be a part of the interpretive trail at Brice’s Crossroads that will tell the story of that conflict.
 

 

Spotsylvania comes to life in this documentary. It includes some of the staging for the reenactment, as well as 14 minutes with Ed Bearss on Upton’s assault. This is well worth your time. ... C.O.D. 

Spotsylvania Court House 

The 1864 Civil War battle of Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia, was a fight waged by first-string generals. Commanding battle-hardened, veteran armies. Here, the north's aggressive, and successful general, Ulysses S. Grant, fought the south's finest tactician, Robert E. Lee. This campaign was the first time during the Civil War that these two "heavyweights" opposed each other. In addition, at Spotsylvania Court House, the savagery because of this mighty confrontation, - this clash of determined bulldogs, - was staggering. At the battle of Spotsylvania after fourteen days of fighting, nearly 18,000 northerners and 10,000 southerners were killed, maimed, or captured at the battle of Spotsylvania. 

Produced from footage gathered at the national- level scale 140th Anniversary Reenactment of the Battle of Spotsylvania, the documentary features high-definition footage of all the highly authentic battle reenactment action. It also features some of the most authentic breastworks ever created! When combined with beautiful high - definition footage of the Spotsylvania Court House National Battlefield, animated battle maps, and high-resolution images of photography taken after the 1864 battle, Spotsylvania Court House is the first documentary of its kind!

BONUS CONTENT: 

1) 35- minute highlight video from "extra" footage shot at the event (plus a Tornado section) 

2) 14-minute tour of Union General, Emory Upton's assault hosted by legendary Civil War expert, Ed Bearss, on the actual battlefield site where it took place 

3) 3-minute High Definition tour of the Spotsylvania portion of the National Military Park 

4) 6-minute tour of things to see and do in Spotsylvania County.

 

Tom Ezell, Harvey Moore (Yankee),
and George Davis provide a living history
 event for a Boy Scout Jamboree in
Macarthur Park in March.

 

SEE YOU TUESDAY NIGHT  

For Brian Brown's Presentation 

GOD BLESS AMERICA