Posted on 06/10/2005 9:19:58 AM PDT by mainepatsfan
This Day In History | Civil War
June 10
1864 Battle of Brice's Crossroads
Nathan Bedford Forrest's legend grows substantially when his Confederate cavalry routs a much larger Union force in Mississippi.
When Union General William T. Sherman inched toward Atlanta, Georgia, in the summer of 1864, he left behind a vulnerable supply line through Tennessee. Of utmost concern to Sherman was the Rebel cavalry under the command of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a daring leader who gave Union commanders in the west difficulty throughout the war. Sherman insisted that Forrest be neutralized and ordered a force from Memphis to hunt down Forrest's command, which at that time was in northern Alabama.
On June 1, some 5,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry troopers under the command of General Samuel D. Sturgis trudged out of Memphis in search of the elusive Forrest. But rain and poor roads slowed them, and a week's travel found the Yankees only 50 miles from Memphis.
Forrest had been preparing for an assault on central Tennessee, but Sturgis's expedition forced him back to northern Mississippi. The Confederates spread out along a railroad between Tupelo and Corinth and awaited the Union advance. On June 8, Forrest learned that Sturgis was moving on Tupelo. He carefully selected Brice's Crossroads for its muddy roads and dense woods to mitigate the Union's numerical advantage and called for his men to attack the leading Yankee cavalry, which would force the trailing infantry to hurry to the battle and fight before recovering from the march.
(Excerpt) Read more at historychannel.com ...
I'm just real glad I wasn't around for that war.
There is an interesting novel "Rommel and the Rebel" by Lawrence Wells. Erwin Rommel supposedly considered Forrest one of the greatest field generals in handling mobile forces, and came over before the war to study his campaigns. The climax of the story involves the British requesting help from a professor of Civil War history to predict Rommel's strategic moves in the African desert, since he had had the opportunity of meeting the Desert Fox himself.
Don't we all.
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