My Mississippi Manifest Destiny: The Battle of Tupelo

Published: May 30, 2008, 11:52 am

Tupelo is known for something else, which I'll get to in my next post. Long before Elvis Presley was born there, Tupelo was viewed as an strategic town--a railroad ran through it and the line was a vital line of supply for General Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman's Military Division of the Mississippi during the Battle of Atlanta. (That railroad still runs through Tupelo, and the trains kept me up much of the night I stayed there.)Union Major General Andrew Smith was ordered to secure Tupelo, and was met by forces led by Lt. Gen. Stephen D. Lee and Maj. Gen. Nathan B. Forrest and July 14. The next day the Northern forces succeeded in securing Sherman's supply line, although Forrest and Lee's armies escaped. Forrest would cause wreak havoc against the Union forces, particularly the killing of unarmed black soldiers during the Battle of Fort Pillow.Forrest later was named an honorary grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, although like many members of the group during its incarnations,

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