Confederate Maj. Gen. Martin L. Smith, whose division had been assigned the task of defending the Vicksburg line of defense from Fort Hill (4 miles to the southwest) to the Stockade Redan (2.35 miles to the south-southeast), had ordered Brig. Gen W. E. Baldwin's brigade to occupy a line of earthworks on Indian Mound Ridge (along present-day Sherman Avenue in Vicksburg). Smith had issued the order without first confirming the decision with Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton. Baldwin quickly realized that the earthworks were very weak, and that his position was seriously isolated. Maj. Samuel Lockett, the engineer officer who had designed the Vicksburg defenses, had envisioned this line of detached earthworks as nothing more than a method of delaying Union occupation of the ridge, and had not intended it as as a part of the permanent fortifications. When the Union advance west along this road was stopped by Baldwin's men sheltered by the earthworks at about 2:00 p.m. on May 18,1863, Baldwin realized that he was in serious trouble if the Federals pressed an attack, and informed both division commander Smith and the Army commander Pemberton. Pemberton immediately dispatched a part of his mobile reserve, including Col. Francis Cockrell's Missouri Brigade and a battery of artillery, to prevent Baldwin's men from being overrun. The reinforcements arrived about 4:30 p.m.. Pemberton also ordered Baldwin and Cockrell to evacuate the position during the hours of darkness to avoid the possibility of being cut off and destroyed.

Baldwin's and Cockrell's brigades withdrew inside the main defense perimeter of Vicksburg during the night without molestation, although they were forced to spike and leave behind a 24-pounder siege gun they had been unable to move.

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