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Fight
for West Tennessee
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Hunt-Phelan
House as Federal Hospital
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In the spring of 1862, Union
strategy continued to focus on Tennessee and the grand objective of
controlling the Mississippi River. Fresh from the triumph at Island
No. 10, Commodore Foote’s gunboat squadron steamed down river to
join General John Pope’s infantry in another combined army-navy
assault. The target this time was the next Confederate stronghold on
the Mississippi River, Fort Pillow. The attack stalled when Pope’s
troops were ordered elsewhere, and Confederate rams challenged the Union
flotilla at Plum Point Bend. Despite these setbacks, Beauregard’s
retreat from Corinth left Fort Pillow in an untenable position, and,
on June 3, the Confederate garrison abandoned the fort.
The Federal’s
Mississippi River fleet –
now reinforced by
Charles Ellet’s swift rams – seemed
unstoppable as it descended on Memphis. In a brief battle below the
city bluffs on June 6, 1862, Union ironclads and rams made short work
of a brave, but out-gunned Rebel fleet, sinking 7 of its 8 boats. Many
residents of the city had foreseen the outcome of the Battle of Memphis
and already fled, while troops destroyed what military supplies could
not be carried away. For the second time, Tennessee’s secessionist
leaders had to flee Federal forces as Memphis, the capital of state
government since the fall of Nashville, came under Union control.
With its railhead, docks
and shipyards, Memphis became a vital Federal depot and command center
for operations along the river. Tens of thousands of Federal soldiers
came through Memphis during the war, including the sick and wounded
housed in military hospitals such as the Hunt-Phelan House. Outlying
towns along the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, particularly LaGrange,
served as jumping-off points for Union incursions into Mississippi.
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Battle of Memphis
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After Major General Earl
Van Dorn’s Confederates were beaten at Corinth in October, 1862,
they retreated across the state line into Tennessee. Attempting to cross
the Hatchie River at Davis Bridge near Pocahontas, they met fierce resistance
from Generals Stephen Hurlburt and E. O. C. Ord’s Federals. Van
Dorn’s force was in danger of being crushed between two Union contingents,
until the Confederates found another way to cross the Hatchie and escape
into Mississippi. This was the last time that any large body of Southern
infantry would operate in the region. Though generally pro-Confederate,
west Tennessee was occupied by Union troops for the duration of the
war.
For the last two years of
the war, Confederate military activity in west Tennessee was limited
to cavalry raids led by Nathan Bedford Forrest, one of the most brilliant
officers and cavalry tacticians of the war. A Memphis merchant and slave
dealer, Forrest mustered in as a private and ended the war as a lieutenant
general. He specialized in launching lightning raids against Union-held
towns or positions, inflicting maximum damage, then disappearing into
the countryside. Forrest’s reputation inspired such fear and respect
among Federal commanders that they sometimes surrendered without a shot
being fired.
 In
December of 1862, Forrest’s brigade of 2,100 cavalrymen
crossed the Tennessee River and headed toward Jackson and
the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. Hoping to disrupt Grant’s
Vicksburg campaign, Forrest executed a series of punishing
raids against Union positions. He captured garrisons at Trenton,
Humboldt, Dyersburg, and Union City and destroyed large amounts
of railroad track. Two brigades of Federal infantry caught
up with Forrest at Parker’s Crossroads on December 31.
Forrest’s cavalry – for once taken by surprise –
appeared to be caught between enemy lines, but Forrest parried
each threat in turn and escaped the trap before his attackers
could react. Elements of Forrest’s brigade had fought
earlier with Union cavalry at the Battle of Britton Lane near
Jackson, capturing a number of prisoners and a supply train.
One
of Forrest’s Men,
Painting by Don Troiani.
Early in 1864,
Forrest’s cavalry reentered west Tennessee to continue
raiding. On April 12, he attacked the Union garrison at Fort
Pillow and killed 64% of the U. S. Colored Troops inside the
fort when they refused to surrender. Northern newspapers made
the "Fort Pillow Massacre" a rallying cry against
any negotiated peace with the South. In August, Forrest launched
a daring daytime raid into Memphis itself. He failed in his
objectives of capturing Union generals and releasing Confederate
prisoners, although the mayhem he caused drew some Federal
troops out of northern Mississippi.
By autumn of 1864,
Confederate commanders were looking for a way to disrupt Major
General William T. Sherman’s hold on Atlanta and stymie
his anticipated thrust into south Georgia. They turned to
Forrest and his horse soldiers to wreak havoc with Sherman’s
supply line in Tennessee. The target was Johnsonville, a new
railhead, river port, and supply depot on the Tennessee River.
Forrest’s men hauled artillery into a well-concealed
position opposite Johnsonville and, on November 4, laid a
withering fire into the docks, heaps of supplies, boats and
barges. By nightfall, everything was ablaze. At the cost of
2 killed and 9 wounded, "that devil Forrest" (Sherman’s
words) destroyed 33 vessels and more than $6 million of Federal
property and took 150 prisoners. Uncertainty caused by Forrest’s
raids in his rear may have influenced Sherman’s decision
to cut his supply lines during his "March to the Sea"
and live off the Georgia countryside.
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U.S. Colored Troops at Johnsonville
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Fight
for West Tennessee - Historical Sites
Prologue
| Invasion by River | Fight
for West Tennessee | Contest for MiddleTennessee
| East Tennessee's Mountain War | Hood's Tennessee Campaign | Epilogue
| Civil War Discovery Trail | Civil
War Timeline | Tennessee's Civil War Heritage
Trail - A clickable map
A Path Divided
(the brochure in it's entirety - .pdf format)
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