The Battle of Collierville

This is an 11 X 17 unpublished map of Collierville during the Civil War from the Tennessee State Archives. The best way to view it is to put your cursor over the picture and zoom in on it using the web tool. If you download the picture to your hard drive you should be able to use your own computer's photo program to zoom in closer than what this website is capable of. You could also possibly enhance and print the map.

Dated July 12th and 13th this is a hand drawn map by a Union Officer showing where the units camped, Headquaters, Railroad, The old Stateline Road (Now Poplar Avenue), Cannon emplacments (Signified by the short lines with dots on either side, these cannon were gone by the October battle), a 20 X 20 Stockade, Possibly the Depot, Skirt of woodlands, Open Country, Possibly a creek, Town, old dirt roads that may or may not line up with current roads. The bottom of the map may show the railroad and the top of the map may show what is now Poplar Avenue. The curved road between the Railroad and Poplar Ave does not line up with Mount Pleasant Road, which used to be the center of town. Mount Pleasant Road curves in the opposite direction and it's curve is South of the railroad tracks anyway. Mount Pleasant runs in a straight line between the railroad and Poplar. When Collierville investigated a possible site of the Fort on Halley Road there was evidence of an old wagon road there. It did not line up with any current roads, so it is hard to make a comparison of old wagon roads and current roads. The railroad has never been moved so it would anchor the map. The more you study this map the more it becomes like a riddle. There is no garanntee that the map is orentated North. The bottom of the map could be what is now Poplar Ave and the top could be the railroad. There are hand written notes in both directions, and the map could fit both ways. If you flip it upside down you may be viewing it correctly, or not. In my opinion you should flip the Map upside down to view it correctly.

Notes by John Weeks

Below is the Map Flipped upside down from title and date inscription.

Where is the Fort today?