Editing Charley's Trace

{{Short description|Former trail in Mississippi}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
[[File:Charley's Trace.jpg|thumb|Detail of Baron de Crenay's 1733 map of Louisiana (Charley's Trace is thought to be the red line in center)]]
'''Charley's Trace''' is a former Native American [[trail]] to the [[Mississippi River]].

Charley's Trace (also spelled Charlie's Trace) is possibly named for a [[Choctaw]] trader who operated a steamboat fueling station near [[Clarksdale, Mississippi|Clarksdale]] in the 1820s.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=James A. |last2=Sasso |first2=Robert F. |editor1-last=Brose |editor1-first=David S. |editor2-last=Cowan |editor2-first=C. Wesley |editor3-last=Mainfort |editor3-first=Robert C. Jr. |title=Societies in Eclipse: Archaeology of the Eastern Woodlands Indians, A.D. 1400-1700 |date=2001 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |location=Tuscaloosa, Alabama |isbn=978-0-8173-8339-8 |page=200 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yFFReQFAPpEC |chapter=15: Prelude to History on the Eastern Prairies}}</ref> There is some evidence that [[Hernando de Soto]] used Charley's Trace to reach the Mississippi River on May 8, 1541.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Ian W. |editor1-last=Rafferty |editor1-first=Janet |editor2-last=Peacock |editor2-first=Evan |title=Time's River: Archaeological Syntheses from the Lower Mississippi Valley |date=2008 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |location=Tuscaloosa, Alabama |isbn=978-0-8173-8112-7 |page=378 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-dgdMCbaAQAC |chapter=Chapter 16. Culture Contact Along the I-69 Corridor: Protohistoric and Historic Use of the Northern Yazoo Basin, Mississippi}}</ref> After the Mississippi Territory was open to settlement, Charley's Trace connected to other roads such as [[Gaines Trace]] and was used by [[outlaw]]s who operated in the [[Mississippi Delta]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Works Progress Administration |title=Mississippi: A Guide to the Magnolia State |date=1938 |publisher=Viking Press |location=New York, New York |page=88 |isbn=978-1-62376-023-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6xVop5rN_aYC}}</ref>

Charley's Trace is possibly depicted on the Baron de Crenay's 1733 map of Louisiana.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Elliott |first1=Jack D. Jr. |editor1-last=Galloway |editor1-first=Patricia Kay |title=The Hernando de Soto Expedition: History, Historiography, and "discovery" in the Southeast |date=2006 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |location=Lincoln, Nebraska |isbn=0-8032-7122-0 |page=257 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zzGphaI83EUC |chapter=Of Roads and Reifications: The Interpretation of Historical Roads and the Soto Entrada}}</ref> The 1755 [[Mitchell Map]] may also depict Charley's Trace (labeled as "Route of Colonel Welch to the Mississippi River in 1698, since followed by our Traders").<ref>{{cite news |last1=Abernathy  |first1=Harry |title=Charley's Trace route used by DeSoto |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/315982248/?clipping_id=25072542&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjMxNTk4MjI0OCwiaWF0IjoxNjc2NjAxOTQxLCJleHAiOjE2NzY2ODgzNDF9.u75ObB7Ngs4p8VdVqQkEpDIUzXp2UaPKl6KC25e4tNI |newspaper=[[The Clarksdale Press Register]] |date=April 5, 1988 |page=1 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |access-date=February 16, 2023}}</ref>

A historical marker was placed by the Chakchiuma Chapter of the [[Daughters of the American Revolution]] on February 20, 1926. The marker was replaced with a newer one on May 21, 1955. No marker exists at the site today.<ref>{{cite web |title=Historical Markers Placed by the MSSDAR |url=https://www.mississippidar.org/mss-dar-information/historical-markers-placed-by-the-mssdar-3/ |website=Mississippi DAR |access-date=February 16, 2023}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

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[[Category:Hiking trails in Mississippi]]
[[Category:Protected areas of Leflore County, Mississippi]]
[[Category:Historic trails and roads in Mississippi]]


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