Reginald Claude Gentry was born on July 25, 1902 in a house just a few hundred yards north of the Brice’s Crossroads Museum and Visitors’ Center. He was a Baldwyn native who possessed many talents.

“Mr. Claude,” as he was known to many, dedicated much of his adult life to the historical preservation of the Battle of Brice’s Crossroads. His log cabin museum, which stood next to his home in Baldwyn from 1961 until 1998, served as the forerunner to the current Brice’s Crossroads Museum and Visitors’ Center. He was instrumental in organizing anniversary celebrations for the battle in 1954 and 1964. He is responsible for the granite markers erected by an act of the Mississippi Legislature in 1957.

In addition to developing others’ interest in Brice’s Crossroads, Mr. Claude was a writer with many published works. The remainder of his books still in print are sold in the Visitors Center Bookstore.

Mr. Gentry died in December of 1992.