Friars Point December 22, 1862

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

Side note:

For many years, local legend and folklore suggested the name came from one of the Roman Catholic Friars that accompanied
Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto's Deep South expedition of 1541. The story was, at that location ... one of the Friars was the first to see the Mississippi River.

Thanks posting this official marker about Robert Friar.

 

[tony_gunter]

Poking around in old newspapers, I see that the main road into the interior of the Tallahatchie region started at Friar's Point and ran through Charleston, Mississippi. This appears to be the route followed by Hovey as he raided the Mississippi Central Railroad in late November / early December 1862, forcing Pemberton to fall back on Grenada.