The Battle of Collierville

Possible location of Collierville Civil War Fort Stockade                                                                            

Halley road is due east of Mt Pleasant road. If you walk east on the Rail Road tracks north of Halley Road exactly 250 feet from where the pavement from Mount Pleasant Road crosses the RR Tracks there is some private property to the North of the RR Tracks up a steep embankment. There is a pile of about 200-300 old style bricks on this property gathered by the property owner. If you go an additional 300 feet from this point (or 530 feet from Mt Pleasant) and go up the embankment there appears to be the remains of an earthen redoubt that has characteristics of a corner of an old Civil War Fort. (It is located in some thick Bamboo) (Designated Redoubt A). The remnants also appear to follow along a short distance to the north around 40-50 feet and then the earthen structure continues intermittently for 200 feet to the east and then back to the south where there is another earthen structure that has the characteristics of a corner of an old Civil War fort. (This location is 730 feet from Mt Pleasant Road along the RR Tracks)(Designated Redoubt B).  Both there redoubts overlook the RR Tracks. There also appears to be an intermittent earthen structure extending North on this property from redoubt B.

Redoubt A is exactly 1300 feet along the RR Tracks from Main Street and 1730 feet from Center Street. It is also 1620 feet from the approximate center of Archaeological site 40SY515 to the east on Halley Road.  Redoubt B is exactly 1500 feet along the RR Tracks from Main Street and 1930 feet from Center Street. It is also 1420 feet from the approximate center of Archaeological site 40SY515 to the east on Halley Road. All measurements were taken with a wagon wheel measuring tool along the Railroad tracks and do not take into account the distance from the railroad tracks to the earthen structures. 

This site would be consistent with historical data about the location of the Civil War Fort at Collierville. There has not been any Archaeological work done at this site so it is only an educated guess based on what similar known forts look like today, and also historical accounts. Archaeological testing could be done to determine how these structures were built to see if they have remnants of timbers in their construction, soil types, and metal relics.

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Property location through register.shelby.tn.us : 

http://register.shelby.tn.us/

Once you get on the web site listed above, use the GIS option that has the map on the home page. Use the parcel ID option in the drop down search box. Enter the following parcel ID:

c0244 00156c

The location of the Fort Stockade is in the southwest corner near the railroad tracks.

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It will take Archaeological testing to determine if this site is circa Civil War and was the Fort and, or Cannon enplacements overlooking the Railroad. If it is the "Stocade" it will line up closely with two Civil War maps of Collierville recently uncovered in the National Archives.