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Named for James Gunn, a Tory who fled to the region during the American Revolution, Guntown, Mississippi is a small town in Lee County, Mississippi. The area was settled in the early 1800s or before, although it wasn’t incorporated until February of 1867. A post office was established at Guntown in 1866. During the War of Northern Aggression, the Battle of Brice’s Crossroads took place near Guntown on June 10, 1864. Confederate Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest set out with about two thousand cavalry troops to destroy the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad, which was by that time carrying troops and supplies to Union Major General William T. Sherman in Georgia. The Confederates defeated a much larger Union column under Brigadier General Samuel Sturgis at Brice’s Cross Roads. There is a tradition that John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, was not executed but escaped and lived out his life in Guntown, Mississippi. A strone was erected in the Smith Cemetery in Guntown by George Booth. Saltillo is south of Guntown, while Baldwyn is to the north. Other nearby communities include Bethany, Jug Fork, Frog Island, Marietta, and Ratliff. Tupelo, Mississippi is about fifteen miles south of Guntown.

 

 

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