Commerce, Mississippi/Buck Island No. 53/Norfolk Landing, Mississippi

Commerce, Mississippi/Buck Island No. 53/Norfolk Landing, Mississippi. Mississippi River Walk. , A) Commerce, Mississippi , Mile 697.5 AHP, In the 1800s a sharp bend curved around Council Island. It was named for an important council held between the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations. Above the bend, Commerce, Mississippi was a thriving port in antebellum days, competing with Memphis for the Delta cotton trade. Just before the Civil War, the river began to wash away the Commerce waterfront. Local residents built the first levees in the area in an attempt to save their town, but the river reached the levees and carried away much of Commerce. In 1874, the river cut through a neck of land below the town, removing Council Bend from the river, causing more washouts. Commerce finally disappeared., B) Buck Island No. 53 , Mile 702.0 AHP, During the Civil War, Buck Island was used by Confederate smugglers who ferried arms across the river. Just after the war, the celebrated steamboat City of Memphis exploded and burned off Buck Island. The boat had been so popular in antebellum days, that a newspaper published on board was widely read. This island is now part of the Mississippi shore. , C) Norfolk Landing, Mississippi , Mile 710.0 AHP, In 1861, Norfolk was the first steamboat landing south of the Tennessee-Mississippi boundary, and it became a customs inspection point for the new Confederate States of America. The idea of regulating traffic on the Mississippi River outraged many otherwise neutral Americans, and many joined the Union cause to free the Mississippi.