Scooters to the Battlefield - Part 2

 Months ago, September 26, 2020 to be precise, we made our first exploration of Brice's Crossroads Battlefield.  Yesterday, February 9, 2021 we revisited Brice's Crossroads to finally finish our tour.  For background you can go read my first post Scooters to the Battlefield.  Wednesday promised to be fairly warm and only an 11 percent chance of rain so we decided to go ahead and head out to the Battlefield and pick up where we had left off.

We hadn't been out on the scooters in quite a while because the weather has not been favorable.  Eric had installed a new, taller windscreen on my scoot and I was quite anxious to try it out and see if I got less wind buffeting.  The original screen, even in high position, allowed so much wind that it often fatigued me and certainly chilled me in cooler temps.  I was so used to the big Beastie bike with all the protection that I didn't realize what a difference an almost naked bike would be.  Well, I'm so very happy with the new wind screen!  Yippee!  It's definitely a keeper.  I still get some wind about the neck but man what a difference in the chest and shoulders.  Yup, I'm happy 😄

Okay, back to the story at hand.  We topped of the gas tanks and quickly made our way to the Natchez Trace which we rode up to the Visitor's Center.  There we made a left turn onto a very pleasant two lane country road with pretty much zero traffic.  The temperature was around 65 degrees and we caught occasional glimpses of the sun between the clouds.  Eric had mapped a lovely route to the Crossroads keeping us on very small, rural roads, many of them new to us.

Before long we were where we had left off and ready to finish the Historic Trail.  Here is where we left off and re-started.

Here is a link to Brice's Crossroads National Battlefield.  This link will give you some history about the Battle and why it was important.  The Battle here was a prime example of winning the battle but losing the war.  Had the Confederates played every battle like this history would be very different.

After leaving our start point we went maybe 1/4 mile down the road and found the last Auto Tour Marker, Number 7.

We rode up the driveway to the parking area at top.  We had the place all to ourselves 😏

We followed the path and came upon a couple of interpretive markers.

The parking lot also had several interpretive markers.

This picture is from where a cannon was located.  In the center of this photo is the Tishomingo Bridge that caused so much distress to the Union Army.  Now, it's February and bleak and leaves are off the trees.  Can you imagine this in June with thick, full leaves on the trees and dense underbrush?  The Tishomingo Creek overflowing from spring rains?  What carnage was wreaked here.

We left this site and just rode down the hill a hundred yards or so to the next site, the Tishomingo Bridge.  We found several interpretive markers here.

Here is the Tishomingo Creek Bridge that created a bottleneck for the retreating Union Army resulting in huge losses and casualties.

And here is the peaceful, nicely flowing Tishomingo Creek.  The reports state the creek was swollen with high banks and soldiers trying to flee jumped into the creek to try and cross since the bridge was impassable with the wagons and horses stalled on the bridge.  Some soldiers and livestock were swept away to their death.  Reading the accounts of this battle is staggering at the errors made by the Union Army.

The Tishomingo Creek site was sobering to say the least.  The interpretive signs give an excellent account of what happened.  Standing there you can almost feel the presence of the soldiers, their fear, the chaos and disorganization of the retreat.

Leaving the Tishomingo Creek site we meandered down the road and came upon James Jourdan's Grave.

We then made our way to the final site.  To get there we turned down a narrow, single lane road that was glorious to ride!  So much fun on the scooters 😁  Here we read interpretive signs about Life at the Crossroads.

Interesting to note that General Samuel D. Sturgis of the Union Army was relieved of duty following this battle due to the huge losses in soldiers, animals, ammunition as well as artillery, wagons, hospital wagons and tents, supplies of all kinds.  He went on to continue serving after the Civil War.  You can read about General Sturgis by clicking on the link.

That concluded our Brice's Crossroads Battlefield Tour.  Fantastic interpretive signs and markers really make the battle come to life.  Too bad many of the signs have deteriorated and need some restoration and cleaning.  I'm glad we took the time to go back and finish the tour.  If you're ever near Tupelo, Mississippi, this would be a fun trip to make!

So, now we were heading home basically the same route we had taken to get there.  I was playing a motorcycle tag game so we decided to ride downtown and see if I could score on a tag.  That put us here at the Private John Allen National Fish Hatchery in Tupelo.  My tag was "Something Fishy" and I thought this fit the bill perfectly!

When you grab an old tag you have to post a new tag so we rode to the local Farmer's Market and I got this photo.  The new tag is any one of three items - a Free Library, a Rusty Truck, or a Produce Mural.  Sure hope someone is able to get this one quickly!  I love playing motorcycle tag 😵  (Yuck!  Covid way too long hair!!!) (Effin' Covid).

We scooted through town and happened upon an historical marker we hadn't see before!  (Isn't this little Honda ADV150 scooter one of the cutest scoots you've ever seen?)

Interesting bit of Tupelo history.

We had a fun outing on the scooters and they ran perfect just as expected!  We rode a whopping 60 miles but every mile held a giant smile 😃.  I'm thrilled with the new windscreen and our next task for the scooters is to figure out a way to mount a roto-pax so we can carry any extra gallon of gas.  We're getting very close to Scooter Cannonball Run ready!

Thank you so much for following along.  We hope to get back to chasing Mississippi Blues Trail Markers soon.  Until then, any ride we can get in is a good ride 😏

Cheers,

Cletha & Eric