The Upper Baker's Creek Bridge survived the flash flood caused by a storm on May 14, 1863, and thus provided the only crossing of Baker's Creek for all roads leading eastward from Edwards. The bridges on the Edwards-Raymond road and the Mt. Moriah-Raymond road had washed out. During the crucial Battle of Champion Hill, this bridge was the only possible retreat route for Confederate Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton's Army of Vicksburg.

During the final phases of the battle, the bridge was first occupied about 12:30 p.m., May 16, 1863, by two regiments of Confederate Brig. Seth Barton's brigade (Maj. Gen. Carter Stevenson's division), after they had been forced off Austin Ridge by Union Brig. Gen. John Stevenson's assault. Barton understood that the bridge was the only retreat route open to the Confederate army on Champion Hill, and he determined to hold it at all costs.

At about 2:30 p.m. Barton sent a courier to Col. A. W. Reynolds, whose brigade was guarding the army's wagon train on the Brownsville road (some 2-1/2 miles north-northeast of Edwards) to ask for help. Shortly thereafter, he was joined at the bridge by a detachment of Col.Wirt Adams' Mississippi Cavalry Regiment, and together they undertook the defense of the bridge. The cavalrymen were sent to the east bank to provide warning of an attack.

About 5:00 p.m. Barton learned that the Lower Baker's Creek Bridge had been repaired. Believing that there was no longer any reason to hold the Upper Bridge, he evacuated the area and retreated toward Edwards and the Big Black River defense line.

At about 5:15 p.m. Union Brig. Gen John Stevenson's brigade reached the Upper Bridge and deployed on the west bank facing west. Maj. Gen. John A McClernand, with Brig. Gen. W. P. Benton's brigade, arrived at about 5:30 p.m.. About 6:00 p.m. Benton's brigade marched southwest, hoping to interdict the Confederate forces that were retreating toward Edwards on the Raymond road, about 2 miles to the southwest. At about the same time, a cavalry scout reported a Confederate column approaching from the north along a country road. Stevenson deployed his artillery, and a few rounds were sufficient to discourage the Confederate force from attacking. Thus, they withdrew to the north.

This site has local significance because of its association with military activities and events that achieved or affected important local objectives of the Vicksburg campaign.