Grierson's Raid

Newton Station fell without a real battle. On 24 April 1863 Lt. Col. William Blackburn rode ahead in the dark, captured two Confederate trains, one freight and one mixed freight and passenger, and set them afire. Exploding ammunition convinced Grierson, riding behind, that a major fight had begun. He arrived to find Blackburn's men helping themselves to confiscated whiskey. Over the next hours the troopers burned a building full of uniforms and arms and the depot, after hospital staff carried out medicine and food, and tore up track east toward the Chunky River.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Dunn's Falls Water Park — 21 mi
  A 65-foot waterfall on the Chunky River built in the 1850s by an Irish immigrant, with a working water wheel and an 1857 grist mill, south of Meridian.
• Highland Park Dentzel Carousel — 26 mi
  The last two-row stationary Dentzel menagerie in the world, in its original carousel house in Meridian's Highland Park, a National Historic Landmark since 1987.

More markers nearby

• Confederate Hospital — steps away
• Sherman at Decatur — 8.8 mi
• Medgar Evers — 8.8 mi
• James Oliver Eastland — 17 mi