Parker's Crossroads

Both sides called it a victory. Forrest, closing on the crossroads with a Union brigade in front of him, demanded Colonel Dunham's surrender; Dunham refused, and then Fuller's brigade struck the Confederate rear. Forrest's order was to "charge 'em both ways," and his men broke through and rode south. His casualties were heavier, but he got across the Tennessee River, which had been his aim. Today about 368 acres are preserved, most through the American Battlefield Trust, and the field is an affiliated area of Shiloh National Military Park.

What the plaque says

Parker's Crossroads Returning to Middle Tennessee after an extensive & successful raid, Forrest's Cavalry Brigade on Dec. 31, 1862, fought here an all-day battle with 2 separate Union brigades converging on him in an unsuccessful attempt to destroy him before he could recross the Tennessee River near Clifton.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Natchez Trace State Park — 8.1 mi
  A New Deal state park built on worn-out West Tennessee farmland, where the Fairfield Gullies show what erosion did and kudzu was planted to stop it.
• Patsy Cline Crash Site Memorial — 22 mi
  An engraved rock off Mt. Carmel Road near Camden marking where a small plane carrying Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins went down on March 5, 1963.
• Mousetail Landing State Park — 24 mi
  A Perry County state park on the Tennessee River where a leather-shipping landing once stood, with ruins of its pier and blacksmith shop, a historic landing trail and quiet water trails.
• Pinson Mounds State Archaeological Park — 27 mi
  The largest group of Middle Woodland mounds in the United States, about two thousand years old, with the second tallest mound in the country, a museum and paved trails.

More markers nearby

• Isaac R. Hawkins — 12 mi
• Mills Darden — 15 mi
• Hale Junior High School — 15 mi
• Governor Alvin Hawkins — 18 mi