Last updated: May 11, 2021
Place
Tour Stop #10 - United States Colored Troops on White House Ridge at the Battle of Brices Cross Roads
NPS Photo
Quick Facts
Location:
Brices Cross Roads Battlefield, Union County Road 167
Significance:
Tour Stop #10 on Brices Cross Roads Driving Tour
Designation:
National Battlefield Site
MANAGED BY:
Amenities
3 listed
Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Parking - Auto, Wheelchair Accessible
This is the site of the Union defensive stand on the "White House Ridge" by the United States Colored Troops (USCT). It was here that the Federals attempted to stop the Confederate pursuit or at least slow it down to give the other Union regiments time to get themselves and the wagon train to safety.
The Union line consisted primarily of the units from Colonel Alexander Wilkin's First Infantry Brigade and Colonel Edward Bouton's United States Colored Infantry Brigade. Bouton's men--the 55th and 59th United States Colored Troops--were ordered to charge Morton's guns and Forrest's dismounted cavalry with their bayonets. Colonel Edward Bouton described the charge as "The right and center of our line, embracing most of the Fifty-ninth Regiment, here rallied and charged, driving the enemy back with bayonets and clubbed muskets nearly 400 yards, leaving great numbers of his dead on the ground."
The African American troops, many of them formerly enslaved, wanted to punish the Confederate soldiers responsible for the massacre of black soldiers at Fort Pillow in Tennessee two months earlier. Some USCT soldiers even wore badges on their uniforms saying "Remember Fort Pillow." According to Captain Morton the USCT soldiers advanced within "hand shaking distance" of the Confederate cannons. The arrival of Colonel Lyon's Confederate cavalry drove back the union soldiers. The Federals soon abandoned their position on the ridge and continued their retreat back towards Memphis, Tennessee.
The Brice's Crossroads Battlefield main battlefield site is managed by the Mississippi Final Stands Visitor and Interpretative Center in Baldwyn, Mississippi.
The Union line consisted primarily of the units from Colonel Alexander Wilkin's First Infantry Brigade and Colonel Edward Bouton's United States Colored Infantry Brigade. Bouton's men--the 55th and 59th United States Colored Troops--were ordered to charge Morton's guns and Forrest's dismounted cavalry with their bayonets. Colonel Edward Bouton described the charge as "The right and center of our line, embracing most of the Fifty-ninth Regiment, here rallied and charged, driving the enemy back with bayonets and clubbed muskets nearly 400 yards, leaving great numbers of his dead on the ground."
The African American troops, many of them formerly enslaved, wanted to punish the Confederate soldiers responsible for the massacre of black soldiers at Fort Pillow in Tennessee two months earlier. Some USCT soldiers even wore badges on their uniforms saying "Remember Fort Pillow." According to Captain Morton the USCT soldiers advanced within "hand shaking distance" of the Confederate cannons. The arrival of Colonel Lyon's Confederate cavalry drove back the union soldiers. The Federals soon abandoned their position on the ridge and continued their retreat back towards Memphis, Tennessee.
The Brice's Crossroads Battlefield main battlefield site is managed by the Mississippi Final Stands Visitor and Interpretative Center in Baldwyn, Mississippi.