By Tyra Jackson | The Selma Times-Journal

A fifth Battle of Selma marker has been erected, with the annual reenactment just around the corner.

The marker recounts Lt. Colonel Frank Montgomery’s story.

President of the April 1865 Society James Hammonds said the marker is interesting because it covers the battle from a Southern point of view.

“Lt. Colonel Frank Montgomery describes his part in the battle in detail and is the best Southern account of the battle of Selma,” he said. “This marker illustrates the rare first hand account of a Mississippi Calvary officer before and during the attack.”

Montgomery’s heralding narrative can be heard at the marker’s location at the corner of Boyntons Street (Summerfield Road) and Battery Drive.

Like the fourth marker, the new installment can be viewed and heard using a QR code. The code will allow visitors to use their phones to scan the marker to unlock valuable details of the battle.

The battle’s new marker sports a price tag of almost $4,000.

“This one cost a little more because it’s a little bit different,” Hammonds said. “We actually showed the unit locations at this point, during the battle, on this map.”

Before visitors learn about the fifth marker, they might want to stop by and view the previous markers.

The first marker is located at the entrance of the annual Battle of Selma Reenactment site No.1 on Satterfield Street.

Visitors can find the second marker in front of the St. James Hotel. One block away the third marker sits at the corner of Alabama Avenue and Washington Street.

The fourth marker is at the corner of Highland Avenue and Summerfield Road, which is not far from the fifth marker.

Viewing one of the five current markers might entice people to learn the whole history of the battle of Selma, by seeing all of them, said Selma Tourism Director Ashley Mason.

“Once they see one, they’re going to want to see all of them,” she said. “It’ll kind of make it an item on a bucket list for them to do. So, they’re building a Civil War trail, so to speak.”