Parker's Crossroads was the scene of the Civil War battle fought on December 31, 1862, between a Confederate force commanded by Nathan B. Forrest and a detachment of Union troops commanded by a Colonel Dunham. Though tactically a Confederate victory, it amounted to little more than a rearguard action since at this point Forrest's raid on Union supply lines in West Tennessee had been thwarted. Critical supplies were ushered through this area to support a Federal army in central Tennessee under General William S. Rosecrans; and more importantly, to a Union army besieging Vicksburg MS, under General Ulysses S. Grant.