Near this spot on February 27, 1862, a southbound lumber train collided with a northbound troop train carrying men of Col. Edmond J. Goode's 7th Mississippi Infantry en route to join the Confederate army in Tennessee after the lumber train failed to move onto a siding as the northbound train approached. In the fog of the early morning, while most men were sleeping, the crash tore apart the first two wooden passenger cars, and splinters of wood killed 22 men at the scene, mortally wounded another 6, and seriously injured 10 more. All of the dead and most seriously injured were members of the Dahlgren Rifles of Pike Co., MS, and the Quitman Rifles of Franklin and Amite Counties. A medical team from the C.S. Hospital in New Orleans and volunteers from nearby Ponchatoula assisted the injured and dying. After the victims were removed and the tracks were cleared, the regiment continued on to Tennessee, where it would earn the respect of friend and foe as part of Mississippi's "High Pressure Brigade."