Trailhead Park

Trailhead Park. Starting point to explore Corinth's Rich Civil War Heritage. In 1991, the Secretary of the Interior designated sixteen Civil War historic sites in and around Corinth, Mississippi, as the Siege and Battle of Corinth National Historic Landmark District., A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only about 3% of the listings on the National Register of Historic Places are recognized as National Historic Landmarks., In the quarter century since then, many of these historic resources, including battlefields, earthworks, and antebellum homes, have been preserved and made available to the visiting public. (Seven are now part of Shiloh National Military Park.), More recent research has highlighted thegmportance of other Civil War historical sites, such as the Corinth Contraband Camp, commemorated at a NPS memorial park overlooking Phillips Creek.< br> , Trailhead Park is an excellent starting point for visiting one or more of these nationally significant sites., 2.Battery F After occupying Corinth Fcåem: streagthened the touwn's outer defenses by building a half dozen redoubts (named Batteries A through F). Of these six, only Battery F survives, located west of town in the Pine Lake Estates subdivision, just south of the Memphis and Charleston rilroad., 3.Battery Robinett Located where he fell, the grave of Confederate Colonel William P. Rogers pictured here leading the 2nd Texas Infantry just before he was killed during an attack on Battery Robinett, may be found behind the Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center., 5.Verandah House During the Union and Confederate occupations of Corinth, four surviving homes served as headquarters for generals on opposing sides. Today, Duncan House, Fishpond House, and Oak Home are private residences, with wayside exhibit panels visible from the street. The Verandah Hosue was given to the City of Corinth by the Curlee Family in the 1960's., 6.Oak Home This house on Fillmore Street served as the headquarters of Confederate Major General Leonidas Polk from later March to May 29, 1862., 9.Railroad Crossover For six months in 1862, this crucial railroad junction made Corinth second only to Richmond in importamce for Civil War planning and strategy., 10.Confederate Earthworks Surviving Confederate artillery fortifications north of town (such as this section on the Beauregard Line, known as a salient) are among the nation's finest examples of early Civil War earthworks., 12.Union Siege Lines, 15.Corinth National Cemetery was established in 1866 as a central burial site for approximately 2,300 Union casualties of the Battle of Corinth and similar clashes in the surrounding area. By late 1870 there were more than 5,688 internments in the cemetery, 1,793 known and 1,895 unknown soldiers. The dead represented 273 regiments from 15 states. In addition, there are three Confederate internemnts in the cemetery, one unknown and two known soldiers., Corinth Contraband Camp The security offered by the U.S. Army during its 20-month occupation of Corinth attracted Afican-Americans fleeing nearby plantations and farms in search of freedom. Union General Grenville Dodge organized the Contraband Camp to accomodate these refugees. Stretching over acres of corn and gardens, and described as a model facility, the camp featured a church, a school, and a hospital, plus numerous houses., By the fall of 1863, over 1,000 African-American residents of the camp, both children and adults, had gained the ability to read, through the efforts of benevolent organizations as the American Missionary Association., Once emancipation was proclaimed, nearly 2,000 men at the Contraband Camp seized the opportunity to protect their new way of life by enlisting in a new African-American regiment of the Union army.