The Mississippi in the Civil War Message Board

Re: Battle of Mcleods mill Dec 10 1864 Leakesville

Fergus, just before the war began, Roderick McLeod patented 40 acres of land in the very NE corner of Section 20 just east of where Anderson Rd. dead ends onto Vernal River Road, according to the Bureau of Land Management's Government Land Office website (an awesome tool to find out exactly where anyone settled). Judging solely from MDOT county maps, I don't see where there could have been a mill anywhere on that property (no streams), but there is a nearby creek I'm thinking might have been where the mill actually was, on nearby land he probably bought from someone else (not patented from the government, and therefore not searchable on the BLM's GLO website).

Juda Dantzler, who was the 11 year old slave of ferryboat operator, Tyra Roberts, one of the richest men in Greene County, said in her WPA narrative in the 1930's that fighting took place near Sandy Branch, probably the same as Sandy Creek, which is as close as 1/2 mile from McLeod's patented land.

Several sources indicate the fighting began southwest of the mill and that Union cavalry pushed the Confederates back NNE, passing the mill at some point, then a few more miles, presumably to about where the two gravestones are in the horse pasture.

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Battle of Mcleods mill Dec 10 1864 Leakesville, MS
Re: Battle of Mcleods mill Dec 10 1864 Leakesville
Re: Battle of Mcleods mill Dec 10 1864 Leakesville
Re: Battle of Mcleods mill Dec 10 1864 Leakesville
Re: Battle of Mcleods mill Dec 10 1864 Leakesville
Re: Battle of Mcleods mill Dec 10 1864 Leakesville
Re: Battle of Mcleods mill Dec 10 1864 Leakesville
Re: Battle of Mcleods mill Dec 10 1864 Leakesville
Re: Battle of Mcleods mill Dec 10 1864 Leakesville
Re: Battle of Mcleods mill Dec 10 1864 Leakesville
Re: Battle of Mcleods mill Dec 10 1864 Leakesville
Re: Battle of Mcleods mill Dec 10 1864 Leakesville