Late on the afternoon of May 17, 1863, Union Maj. Gen. Francis Blair's division (Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's XV Corps) reached the Brooks Farm and bivouacked for the night after having crossed the Big Black River at Bridgeport, 2 miles to the southeast, on the newly-constructed pontoon bridge.

Early on May 18 Blair's division resumed its march west on the Bridgeport road toward Vicksburg. Maj. Gen. Frederick Steele's division, which had camped on the west bank of the Big Black River at Bridgeport, passed Brooks Farm about an hour behind Blair. Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, riding with Brig. Gen. James M. Tuttle at the head of Tuttle's division, passed the farm immediately behind Steele's division.

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.