Burns site officially opened
for public tours

Published Sunday, March 30
By Jebb Johnston
Staff Writer

Some earthworks sites have little more than a bump on the ground left to show today. Standing in the right spots at the Burns site, one can't see over the top of some of the nation's most impressive Civil War field fortifications.

On Saturday, one of Corinth's best-hidden historic treasures officially opened to public tours.

Following a ceremony at the Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center Saturday, the first group took the 3/4-mile hike in the woods west of North Polk Street to see the site, which will officially become a part of the Corinth Unit of Shiloh National Military Park later this year.

Park Ranger Tom Parson told tour participants it is one of the most impressive earthworks sites he has seen.

"I've been to many in the East. They don't rival what we have right here in Corinth," he said.

The park service will conduct tours of the site each second and fourth Saturday at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Reservations may be made by phoning 287-9273.

The fortifications of the Beauregard Line stand some 10 feet high in places.

"Benign neglect and the Burns family are two of the reasons they are there today," said Woody Harrell, superintendent of Shiloh National Military Park. "They have lasted 140 years, and we want them to last much, much longer into the future."

It is about a 1-mile drive off Polk to get to the beginning of the trail, which includes overlook sites with interpretive panels overlooking portions of "the Salient," a sort of V-shaped series of features built to guard the Mobile and Ohio Railroad and the northern road coming into Corinth.

Parson described the fortifications built during the war as an "absolutely incredible engineering feat that starts down to the south of the city, wraps all the way around the eastern side all the way to the northwest," for some 7 miles.

The earthworks were meticulously constructed. The soldiers would have worked against erosion, packing the walls to keep them strong.

"All of these were designed by West Point engineers," said Parson. "They were sticklers. It was down to the inch and down to the degree." Siege and Battle of Corinth Commission Chair Rosemary Williams said the property is probably the most important of those joining the Corinth Unit.

The land had long been in the care of the family of the late Louise Burns before its donation to local battlefield preservationists.

Return home