SOLUTION: The clue "While Eyes Looked West" points to Grierson's Raid. This was a significant Union cavalry raid led by Colonel Benjamin Grierson through Mississippi from April 17 to May 2, 1863, during the Civil War. Its primary strategic purpose was to create a diversion, destroying Confederate infrastructure and drawing Confederate forces away from General Ulysses S. Grant's main operations in the Vicksburg Campaign. The raid passed through numerous towns, causing disruption and alarm, but its objective was not to capture these towns, but rather to support the larger Union effort to seize Vicksburg. The historic marker in Starkville is located in front of Walgreens at Highway 12 & Louisville St.