On April 30, 1863, the Confederate brigades of Brigadier Generals Martin Green and Edward Tracy marched south along the Bruinsburg Road to contest the Union invasion of Mississippi. The next day, May 1, the brigades of Brigadier General William Baldwin and Cololnel Francis Cockrell hastened out the Bruinsburg road to reinforce the Confederate troops then heavily engaged with Grant's forces. Late in the afternoon of May 1, Baldwin's men would retire from the field along the road into Port Gibson followed by the victorious Union soldiers.

Confederate troops were deployed to block both the Rodney and Bruinsburg Roads west of Port Gibson. At the point of deployment, an interval of 2,000 yards separated the roads. The brigades of Tracy, on the right, and Green, on the left, were separated by a deep cane-choked ravine which prevented one flank from reinforcing the other flank. To do so, the Confederates had to march back to the road junction. The "Y" intersection of the roads was thus the lateral avenue of movement for the Confederates.

Between 1802 and 1807 Bayou Pierre Presbyterian Church was built near this prominent point overlooking Bayou Pierre. A reconstruction of this crude log church stands on the site today. On the morning of May 1, 1863, the right flank of Brigadier General Edward Tracy's Alabama Brigade rested on this point. The thin gray line ran southeastward for 1,000 yards, paralleling the Bruinsburg Road. Shortly after 8 a.m. the Confederate skirmishers began to fall back and the main line opened fire.

It was at this time, recalled Sargeant Francis Obenchain of the Botetourt (Virginia) Artillery, that while speaking with General Tracy, "a ball struck him on back of the neck passing through. He fell with great force on his face and in falling cried `O Lord!' He was dead when I stooped to him." Edward Tracy was the first of several Confederate generals to die in defense of Vicksburg. Even so, the Confederates held their tenuous line all morning against heavy Federal pressure.

The Alabamans were reinforced in the afternoon by Martin E. Green's brigade which extended the line eastward. The Confederates handled their weapons with grim determination and skill, but it was evident their line was slowly giving way. Late in the afternoon the Federals managed to turn the Confederate flank at the overlook. Unable to stem the blue tide along both the Bruinsburg Road and the Rodney Road, the Confederates retired from the field.

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