Tupelo battle examined by Mississippi State professor

For the second time in three months, Mississippi State professor Michael B. Ballard is telling the story of a state Civil War battle.

The Battle of Tupelo is a new release by The Papers of the Blue and Gray Education Society, a producer of battlefield interpretation publications.

In June, Ballard's The Campaign for Vicksburg was published by the Eastern National Park and Monument Association. Like his latest work, the Vicksburg book is a concise interpretation designed for battlefield visitors and the general public.

Ballard said many Civil War history buffs tend to lump the 1864 Tupelo campaign together with the much-studied battle at nearby Brice's Crossroads. Both took place in Lee County: Tupelo on July 14-15, 1864; Brice's Crossroads, a few weeks earlier.