Under orders from Confederate Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton (who was at Bovina, Mississippi), Brig. Gen. John Bowen established a battle line along a ridge some 2.3 airline miles south-southwest of Edwards during May 11, 1863. It was Pemberton's intention to fight the battle defending Edwards and the Big Black River Bridge at this location. Bowen advanced a strong infantry skirmish line and a section of artillery to a point about one-half mile south of Whittaker's Ford, to provide ample warning of the approach of Union forces. The Union forces arrived on the morning of May 11, and by mid-afternoon had forced Bowen's advanced line to fall back and rejoin the main body at this point. In the meantime, brigades under Brig. Gens. W. S. Featherston and Abraham Buford came up deployed on Bowen's right.

Early on the morning of May 13 a powerful Union force crossed Bakers Creek at Whittaker's Ford and deployed about 1,500 yards to the south, as if preparing to attack. However, within an hour it had thinned and vanished, and it was not until a patrol of Col. Wirt Adams' Mississippi Cavalry Regiment overtook the rear guard of a Union force marching southeast on the Mt. Moriah-Dillon's Farm road that Bowen realized that the Union forces had broken contact and headed east.

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.