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The History: The Battle of Brice's Crossroads was fought on June 10, 1864, near Baldwyn in Lee County, Mississippi, during the American Civil War. It pitted a 4,787-man contingent led by Confederate Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest against an 8,100-strong Union force led by Brigadier General Samuel D. Sturgis. The battle ended in a rout of the Union forces and cemented Forrest's reputation as one of the great cavalrymen. The Confederates suffered 495 casualties to the Union's 2,610 (including 1,500 prisoners). Forrest captured huge supplies of arms, artillery, and ammunition as well as plenty of stores. Sturgis suffered demotion and exile to the far West. After the battle, the Union Army accused Forrest of massacring black soldiers.
In the back of the Bethany A.R.P. Church Cemetery, also known as the Bethany Historic Cemetery, stand ninety-six markers representing the Confederate soldiers who lost their lives at the Battle of Brice’s Crossroads on June 10, 1864 (there are no soldiers buried there – only honored there). There were approximately thirty Confederate soldiers killed in the 1864 battle who lie buried in common graves on the battlefield. The Claims: Many EVP's have been recorded at the cemetery On the Interpretive Trails visitors often tell of seeing a ghost and smelling gun powder. Reports of hearing the sounds of the battle are made. Our Findings: We investigated the battlefield and cemetery over a two-day period in early August, 2014. It was cloudy and 76° at 7:00pm the evening we began and sunny and 84° when we wrapped it up at 10am the next day. We started our investigation earlier in the day at the Four Corners Interpretative Site where we were given the history of the battle and maps of the battlefield. The battlefield is approximately 5 miles from the visitor center but the National Park Service has done a great job placing directional signs which made the navigation through this massive site extremely easy. There were no anomalies in any of the photos or video we shot. However there was an interesting EVP caught on Log Cabin Ridge. At the time it sounded like singing to our investigator. Upon review of the audio you can clearly hear someone (not us) saying “Hep” or “Help” and our investigator acknowledges it. We also heard what sounded like cannon fire throughout our audio and –although it wasn’t terribly windy during our investigation - we believe it was the sound of the wind as it blew across the battlefield. We did not have a wind guard on our mics and suspect this might be what others have heard as well. This is a great place to visit – ghosts or not – and we will make a return trip! |