Major-General William T. Sherman assembled a Federal force of about 27,000 men at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Sherman planned to move this force 120 miles eastward to Meridian, the largest railroad center in the state that was still in Confederate hands. The goal was to destroy the railroad and thereby cut a key supply line for Confederate troops in the region. Sherman made no arrangements to supply his men for this march; they would instead live off the land.
Sherman’s march would consist of two infantry divisions and a cavalry brigade:
- Major-General Stephen A. Hurlbut’s Sixteenth Corps comprised the left (north) column.
- Major-General James B. McPherson’s Seventeenth Corps comprised the right (south) column.
- Four cavalry regiments would screen the advance, headed by Colonel Edward F. Winslow.
The march was to be preceded by a separate operation in which Brigadier-General William Sooy Smith would lead 7,000 Federal cavalry troopers out of Collierville, Tennessee, to raid southward and cripple the Mobile & Ohio Railroad. Smith was to head out on February 1 and link with Sherman’s columns at Meridian on the 10th. From there, Smith would continue east to the Confederate manufacturing center of Selma, Alabama.
The only organized Confederate opposition consisted of just 13,500 scattered men from Lieutenant-General Leonidas Polk’s Army of Mississippi. Spies had informed Sherman of where Polk positioned his forces:
- Major-General Samuel G. French’s 3,000-man infantry division was at Brandon, 15 miles east of the state capital of Jackson.
- Major-General William W. Loring’s 6,000-man infantry division was at Canton, 25 miles northeast of Jackson.
- Major-General Stephen D. Lee’s 2,000-man cavalry division patrolled the railroad between Vicksburg and Jackson.
- Major-General Nathan Bedford Forrest’s 2,500-man cavalry division was near Oxford in northern Mississippi.
According to Sherman, “Polk seemed to have no suspicion of our intentions to disturb his serenity.” But Polk knew something was coming, and he forwarded the latest information about Sherman to his superiors at Richmond on the 1st: “I am informed reliably it is his intention to make a forward movement from Vicksburg and Yazoo City in a few days.”
Believing that the Federals were targeting Jackson again, Forrest recommended wrecking the railroad west of Jackson “if it can be more effectually destroyed than it has been already.” East of Jackson, Confederates were trying to repair the railroad bridge over the Pearl River. Polk asked his commanders, “Can you not send out and press negroes on the east side (of) Pearl River to hasten the completion of the trestles? This may become necessary.”
Polk then acted upon Forrest’s intelligence and directed S.D. Lee “to destroy the railroad from Vicksburg to Jackson immediately, beginning as far west as you can, and putting as many men upon it as you can employ. Let it be done thoroughly.”
Meanwhile, French strengthened Confederate defenses at Jackson, even though Polk knew his army was no match for Sherman’s Federals. To ensure that Polk could expect no reinforcements, the Federals at Chattanooga began moving to demonstrate against the Confederate Army of Tennessee at Dalton, Georgia.
Rear-Admiral David D. Porter, commanding the Federal naval squadron on the Mississippi River, granted Sherman’s request to move up the Yazoo River and divert attention from Sherman’s offensive. Four gunboats headed up the Yazoo on the 3rd and destroyed a Confederate shore battery at Liverpool. Retreating Confederates destroyed one of their steamers to prevent its capture.
Sherman’s two columns moved out of Vicksburg at 6 a.m. that same day. Sherman kept his headquarters near Hurlbut on the left since Hurlbut had less field experience than McPherson. Sherman had previously arranged to have two bridges built across the Big Black River; McPherson’s men crossed at the railroad, while Hurlbut crossed north at Messinger’s Ferry. The Federals camped that afternoon about five miles east of the Big Black.
Lee’s Confederates did not challenge the Federal crossings; they instead gathered near Bolton Depot, about 10 miles east of the river, and prepared to block the roads to Clinton. As the Federals resumed their advance the next day, they were met by Brigadier-General William Wirt Adams’s Confederate cavalry brigade. Adams unsuccessfully attacked Winslow’s left flank as McPherson deployed his infantry in line of battle near the old Champion’s Hill battlefield. A soldier named Lucius W. Barber recalled:
“We advanced one mile uninterrupted and then came upon a brigade of Wirt Adams’ rebel cavalry. It was strongly posted in the woods across the open space in front of us. Without any delay, we opened fire upon them, which they returned. They being concealed in the woods had the advantage, but we had good backing and did not hesitate to attack them.”
The Federals charged and drove the Confederates off. The Confederates regrouped, but the Federals charged and drove them off again. Barber wrote:
“The rebs had taken a position just beyond a dwelling house where lived a widow with three small children. She came to the door to see what was going on when a ball struck her, killing her instantly. When our boys got there, they found her form rigid in death, lying in a pool of her own life’s blood. Her little children were clinging frantically to her, not realizing that she was dead. General Sherman caused a notice to be immediately posted on the house, specifying the manner of her death and ordering the premises to be held as sacred. I do not know from which side the shot was fired that killed her.”
McPherson reported that his men drove the Confederates back 10 miles, “easily and steadily over a very broken country, with little loss on our side.” On Sherman’s left, Hurlbut’s corps advanced to Bolton Depot, where Confederate cavalry and artillery blocked their path on the plantation of President Jefferson Davis’s brother. Hurlbut deployed his men, who scattered the Confederates just as easily as McPherson’s had done.
That night, McPherson reported that Winslow’s cavalry drove the Confederates “across the creek east of Bolton, the bridge saved, and my command bivouacked near the junction of the Clinton, Bolton, and Raymond Roads.” However, McPherson noted that “the enemy occupied a good position on the hills on the east side of the creek, and everything indicated that they intended to contest the ground stubbornly.” Skirmishing would resume the next day.
Bibliography
- Foote, Shelby, The Civil War, A Narrative: Fredericksburg to Meridian. New York: Vintage Civil War Library, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group (Kindle Edition), 2011.
- Long, E.B. with Long, Barbara, The Civil War Day by Day. New York: Da Capo Press, Inc., 1971.
- Pollard, Edward A., Southern History of the War (facsimile of the 1866 edition). New York: Fairfax Press, 1990.
- Sherman, William T., Memoirs of General William T. Sherman, Vol. I. New York: D. Appleton and Co. (Kindle Edition), 1889.
- Stanchak, John E. (Patricia L. Faust ed.), Historical Times Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Civil War. New York: Harper & Row, 1986.
- Woodworth, Steven E., Nothing but Victory: The Army of the Tennessee, 1861-1865. New York: Vintage Civil War Library, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition, 2005.