Palo Alto, Mississippi

Palo Alto was named in honor of the Battle of Palo Alto.{{cite book|author=Elmo Howell|title=Mississippi Back Roads: Notes on Literature and History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ADHNERXVh-gC&pg=PA54|date=May 1998|publisher=Elmo Howell|isbn=978-0-9622026-6-7|pages=218}} The Palo Alto Academy was once located in Palo Alto.{{cite book|author=Mississippi|title=Laws of the State of Mississippi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lQBGAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA675|year=1882|publisher=Fall & Marshall, state printers|pages=675}} A carriage factory, general store, and the Palo Alto Inn were formerly in operation in Palo Alto.{{cite web |last1=Elliott |first1=Jack |title=William Faulkner and Preservation, part one |url=https://misspreservation.com/2010/06/28/william-faulkner-and-preservation-part-one/ |website=Preservation in Mississippi |accessdate=28 May 2020}} The community was prosperous prior to the Civil War, but was absorbed into the nearby community of Abbott after the Civil War.{{cite book | last = Rowland | first = Dunbar | title = Mississippi: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form | publisher = Southern Historical Publishing Association | year = 1907 | url = https://archive.org/details/mississippicompr02rowl | volume = 2 | page = 371}}

A post office operated under the name Palo Alto from 1846 to 1898.{{cite web | url=https://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?task=display&state=MS&county=Clay | title=Clay County | publisher=Jim Forte Postal History | accessdate=27 May 2020}}

Company F of the 44th Mississippi Infantry was known as The Palo Alto Confederates and was mustered into service on July 27, 1861 in Palo Alto.{{cite book|author=Mississippi. Department of Archives and History|title=The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wMoGAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA741|year=1908|publisher=Department of Archives and History|pages=741}} Soldiers from this company served with the Army of Tennessee in many battles, including Shiloh, Munfordville, Murfreesboro, and Chickamauga.{{cite web |title=44th Regiment, Mississippi Infantry |url=https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-battle-units-detail.htm?battleUnitCode=CMS0044RI |website=The Civil War Trail |publisher=National Park Service |accessdate=27 May 2020}}

During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought in Palo Alto on April 21 and 22, 1863 between the 2nd/22nd Tennessee Cavalry (Barteau's) and the 2nd Iowa Volunteer Cavalry Regiment. The Iowa soldiers, under the command of Edward Hatch, were part of Grierson's Raid and were being used to distract Confederate soldiers from Grierson's main column.{{cite book|author1=Steven E. Woodworth|author2=Charles D. Grear|title=The Vicksburg Campaign, March 29–May 18, 1863|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iaztAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA237|date=8 October 2013|publisher=Southern Illinois University Press|isbn=978-0-8093-3270-0|pages=27}} After the skirmish Hatch's soldiers marched to Okolona, burning down barracks, a cotton warehouse, and ammunition stores.{{cite book|author1=William H. Leckie|author2=Shirley A. Leckie|title=Unlikely Warriors: General Benjamin H. Grierson and His Family|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SGtGi70SOtsC&pg=PA366|date=1 March 1998|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=978-0-8061-3027-9|pages=89}} Six Union Army soldiers were declared missing after the skirmish.{{cite book|author=Edwin L. Drake|title=Chronological Summary of Battles and Engagements of the Western Armies of the Confederate States: Including Summary of Lt. Gen. Joseph Wheeler's Cavalry Engagements|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RfkcAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA25|year=1879|publisher=Tavel, Eastman & Howell|pages=25}}

In 1876, Palo Alto was the site of an incident in which a group of heavily armed white men brought a piece of field artillery and broke up a meeting of the Republican Club in order to suppress black voters.{{cite web|title=Full text of "Mississippi: Testimony as to denial of elective franchise in Mississippi at the elections of 1875 and 1876, taken under the resolution of the Senate of December 5, 1876"|url=https://archive.org/stream/mississippitesti00unit/mississippitesti00unit_djvu.txt|accessdate=17 December 2017|date=5 December 1876}}

In 1987, the townsite was listed on the National Register of Historic Places under the name of "Town of Palo Alto." Nearly {{convert|200|acre}} were listed on the Register as part of the community.

{{reflist}}

{{National Register of Historic Places}}

{{Clay County, Mississippi}}

{{authority control}}

Category:Former populated places in Clay County, Mississippi

Category:Ghost towns in Mississippi

Category:Populated places established in 1846

Category:1846 establishments in Mississippi

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Clay County, Mississippi

Category:Populated places on the National Register of Historic Places in Mississippi

{{ClayCountyMS-geo-stub}}

{{Mississippi-NRHP-stub}}