Wheeler's October Raid, 1863

Lt. Gen. Joseph Wheeler

With the Federal army encircled within Chattanooga, Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg next strategic concern was to keep his enemy from being resupplied. On this date in 1863, Bragg's cavalry commander, Gen. Joseph Wheeler, led an expedition of 4,000 to hit the Federal supply lines to the besieged army. While my great grandfather, Nathan Oakes, was posted with Cleburne's infantry on Missionary Ridge, another ancestor, Great-Great Grandfather David Crockett Neal, was serving in the James H. Lewis's 6th Cavalry Regiment, which departed with Wheeler on his raid today.*

Wheeler's cavalry started out on October 1, on what turned out to be a long and destructive operation in the rear of the Federal army. Wheeler forded the river below Chattanooga and rode up the Sequatchie Valley. His first action was an encounter with a long train of 800 wagons and 4,000 mules. Burning the wagons and killing the mules, he pushed on to McMinnville, capturing it and destroying its supplies. Then his men fought a running, day-by-day battle with various Federal cavalry units on a wide raid that took them on to Murfreesboro and nearly to Nashville. Wheeler pushed his men down through Middle Tennessee as far as Pulaski. Finally, on October 8, they crossed the Tennessee River near Decatur.

The raid caused untold damage, but by now Wheeler's force was so disorganized and exhausted by the hard riding and fighting that it was some time before it could be reorganized and refitted for further service.


* In the Battle of Chickamauga, the 6th Tennessee was commanded by Lt. Col. James H. Lewis. It fought in Nathan B. Forrest's Cavalry Corps in Frank C. Armstrong's Division, in Armstrong's Brigade, which was commanded by Col. James T. Wheeler. On September 28, Forrest was ordered to turn over his forces to Gen. Wheeler, and the regiment was reassigned to the 2nd Brigade of John A. Wharton's First Division in Wheeler's Corps.

Sources: The 6th Tennessee Cavalry (unpublished manuscript), John F. Walter; The Army of Tennessee, Stanley F. Horn

With Forrest's Corps at Chickamauga

While this blog is devoted mainly to the history of the 32nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment, in which my Great Grandfather Nathan Richardson Oakes served, I also had another ancestor, Great-Great Grandfather David Crockett Neal who on this date was part of the victorious Confederate army that routed the Army of the Cumberland. Great-great Grandfather Neal served in James H. Lewis's 6th Tennessee Cavalry Regiment,¹ which fought in Gen. Nathan B. Forrest's Corps with the Confederate infantry.

In July of 1863, after seeing fighting in the Tullahoma Campaign, Great-Great Grandfather's 6th Tennessee was transferred to the First Brigade of Forrest's Corps in Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee. The regiment saw some skirmishing in North Georgia (Summerville and Ringgold) before joining in the battle at Chickamauga from September 18-20.

At Chickamauga, portions of Forrest's Corps fought as dismounted cavalry alongside infantrymen on the Confederate right flank,² in the area where Great Grandfather Oakes fought. After helping to drive Rosecrans's army from the field on September 20, Forrest's men vigorously pursued the retreating enemy, taking hundreds of prisoners. Noting the obvious panic and disorder of the retreating Federal army, Forrest advised Gen Braxton Bragg that he should follow up the victory with an immediate attack to recapture Chattanooga, which Bragg had vacated weeks earlier. Urging Bragg into action, he wrote the next day,"Every moment lost is worth the life of a thousand men." But the commander-in-chief remained indecisive about pursuit.

Nathan Bedford Forrest

The inaction provoked Forrest openly criticized Bragg, who he believed had failed to capitalize on the Confederate victory. Frustrated with his commanding officer (some accounts say that Forrest threatened Bragg with his life, while others recall that it was Bragg that persecuted Forrest), Forrest requested a new assignment, and in October 1863, he was given independent command in Mississippi.

Promoted to major general in December 1863, Forrest fought a series of small engagements in Tennessee before defeating a much larger Union force at the Battle of Okolona in February 1864, and again shattering the Federals at Brices Crossroads in June. Forrest will be credited with several successes before he rejoins the Army of Tennessee in its ill-fated Battle of Franklin in November 1864. A master of cavalry deployment, Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest will continue to distinguish himself throughout the remainder of the war.

¹ In the Battle of Chickamauga, the 6th Tennessee was commanded by Lt. Col. James H. Lewis. It fought in Nathan B. Forrest's Cavalry Corps in Frank C. Armstrong's Division, in Armstrong's Brigade, which was commanded by Col. James T. Wheeler. On September 28, Forrest was ordered to turn over his forces to Gen. Joseph Wheeler, and the regiment was reassigned to the 2nd Brigade of John A. Wharton's First Division in Wheeler's Corps.
² Fighting with D.H. Hill's infantrymen (Great Grandfather's Oakes's corps), the lieutenant general was uncharacteristically impressed. Author Stanley F. Horn writes, that while the battle progressed Lt. Gen. Hill took of his hat to Forrest and said: "General Forrest, I wish to congratulate you and those brave men moving across the field like veteran infantry upon their magnificent behavior. In Virginia I made myself extremely unpopular with the cavalry because I said that so far I had not seen a dead man with spurs on; but no one can speak disparagingly of such troops as yours." Horn also notes that coming from the Virginian army, Hill was unfamiliar with how Western cavalry fought. Riding into position in a battle, every fourth man in the ranks would be assigned the duty of holding the 4 horses in the rear, while his comrades moved up to attack on foot. The horse-holders would keep up with the fighting as it developed so that the horses were available for quick transportation when needed.

Sources: The 6th Tennessee Cavalry (unpublished manuscript), John F. Walter; That Devil Forrest, John Allan Wyeth; The Army of Tennessee, Stanley F. Horn; Mountains Touched With Fire; Wiley Sword

Forrest's Cavalry at the Battle of Brentwood

On February 2, the 6th Tennessee Cavalry Regiment—among which was serving my great-great grandfather, David Crockett Neal—was assigned to Brigadier General F. C. Armstrong's Brigade. As part of this brigade the 6th Tennessee moved from Montgomery, Alabama, to Spring Hill, Tennessee, in February, to support Bragg's army at Tullahoma. In March, the 6th Regiment was under the command of Lieut. Col. J.H. Lewis, in Brigadier General Nathan B. Forrest's force in the action around Brentwood, Tennessee.

Union troops had occupied Nashville for more than a year. Brentwood, a strategic depot on the Nashville & Decatur Railroad, 9 miles south of Nashville, was held by a force of about 700 Union soldiers, both guarding the depot and the bridge over the Little Harpeth River. In command was Lieut. Col. Edward Bloodgood.

On the 24th, Gen. Forrest had ordered the 2nd Brigade under Col. J.W. Starnes, to Brentwood, to cut the telegraph lines, tear up railroad track, and cut off any retreat. On today's date in 1863, Forrest approached Brentwood with a column of cavalry, including Great-great Grandfather Neal's 6th Tennessee. As Forrest and the 2nd Cavalry Brigade approached the stockade in the early morning, Bloodgood tried to get out a message about Forrest’s attack. However, he discovered that the telegraph lines were cut. Forrest demanded a surrender under a flag of truce, but Bloodgood refused. Within a half-hour, Forrest had artillery in place to shell the enemy position and had surrounded the Federals with Armstrong’s brigadey. Finding himself completely surrounded and shelled by artillery, Bloodgood surrendered his troops, all within about a half-hour of the initial Confederate attack.

Gen. Nathan B. Forrest

Forrest next rode about 2 miles south of Brentwood to the Federal stockade there. Upon finding himself surrounded and shelled, Capt. Elisha Basset also surrendered, leaving the Confederates to burn the bridge over the Little Harpeth and to head westward with several captured supply wagons and as many as 800 Union prisoners.

Nearby, a Union cavalry unit under Brig. Gen. Green Clay Smith, pursued Forrest's Confederates, engaging them a few miles west of the stockade. Over an hour-long engagement the Union troops managed to push back the Confederates and retake many of the captured stores and prisoners. However, Col. Starnes's 2nd Brigade then appeared on the Union right, halting their advance, driving them back, and recapturing troops and supplies. 

In the fighting at Brentwood, the 6th Tennessee under Lieut. Col. Lewis, raided to within 3 miles of Nashville, within view of the capital building, and rode a half-circuit around Nashville. From Gen. Forrest's official after action report:

Before leaving Brentwood to attack the stockade, I ordered Col. Lewis, of the First [Sixth] Tennessee Cavalry, to dash down the pike with his command toward Nashville. He ran their pickets in at Brown's Creek, capturing some negroes and a Sutler's wagon within 3 miles of the city. He there turned to the left with his regiment, making a circuit around Nashville from the Franklin to the Charlotte pike. 

By the 27th, after leading the regiment rejoined its brigade at Spring Hill.

The victory at the Battle of Brentwood gave the Confederate forces temporary control of an important railroad depot outside Nashville.

Sources: That Devil Forrest, John Allan Wyeth; 6th Tennessee Cavalry (unpublished manuscript), John F. Walter; 6th (Wheeler's) Tennessee Cavalry Regiment; CWSAC Battle Summaries; Gen. Nathan B. Forrest's & Col. Lewis's after action reports; Official Records, Vol. 33, Pt. 1;

Cavalry battle at Thompson's Station

Following the Confederate army's retreat from Murfreesboro to Tullahoma, and for the first half of 1863, most of the skirmishing and fighting that occurred between the opposing armies in Middle Tennessee involved the cavalry. While Great Grandfather Oakes's 32nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment was stationed at Wartrace with the Army of Tennessee encamped around Tullahoma, Great-Great Grandfather David Crockett Neal was serving in the 6th Tennessee Cavalry Regiment nearby.

Since January, Great-great Grandfather Neal's 6th Tennessee had been assigned to Brig. Gen. F. C. Armstrong's Brigade, in Brig. Gen. W.H. Jackson's Division, in Van Dorn Corps. It was supporting Bragg's army around Tullahoma. In March, the regiment was commanded by Lieut. Col. James H. Lewis.*

On March 4th, Union Col. John Coburn, under orders by Brig. Gen. Charles C. Gilbert, led his force out of Federally occupied Franklin, heading south to forage for food and reconnoiter any Rebel activity in the area. Further south, Confederate Gen. Nathan B. Forrest, along with fellow brigadier, Gen. W.H. Jackson, had been ordered by Van Dorn to mobilize their troops for a reconnaissance north. A collision of the 2 forces was inevitable. They would clash at a railroad depot called Thompson's Station.

The Battle of Thompson' Station, March 5, 1863
Source: Save the Battle of Franklin, Inc.

About 4 miles out of Franklin on March 4th, Coburn's troops encountered a Confederate force. After a running battle of several hours, at dusk the Confederates withdrew to the hills south of Thompson's Station. The Federal troops camped on the field for the night.

On the 5th, Coburn pushed his men forward, when he encountered a strong Confederate outpost on the hills 1 mile north of the depot. This force was driven back, and the Federals advanced within sight of the town. Here Coburn could see the Confederate forces in position on the hills to the south of the depot, and on both sides of the Columbia Pike. In addition to Gen. Jackson's Division of dismounted cavalry, Brig. Gen. Forrest's Cavalry Division had moved into line during the night.

Coburn, unwisely deciding to attack the Confederates, positioned his force on the northern hills and on both sides of the Columbia Pike, with cannons east and west of that road. His men west of the pike advanced across a field near the station, pushing back the Rebel skirmishers into the town. The dismounted Confederate cavalry then countercharged and drove the Federals back to their starting position on the northern hills. The Confederates made 2 more charges, advancing across the field. In the final charge, a civilian, 17-year old Alice Thompson, appeared suddenly, waving a fallen regimental flag, and stirred the troops to push back the enemy to a final position on another hill.

After several hours of severe fighting, Forrest led his command around the Federal position, capturing the enemy's supply train and cutting off any hope of withdrawal to Nashville. With no line of retreat left, Coburn surrendered his entire infantry force.

Coburn's losses were 48 killed and wounded, and 1,500 captured. Van Dorn reported his losses of 357 killed, wounded, and missing.

While  not a strategically important affair, the Battle of Thompson's Station did weaken the Federal force at Franklin. It was significant for showing to the Federals that the Rebels in Middle Tennessee continued to be a dangerous foe. Also, the Confederate cavalry action here and elsewhere helped tie up Union resources for months to come. And the spontaneous action of brave, young Alice Thompson, who survived unscathed, continues to be remembered whenever this battle is discussed.

* Compiling a history of the 6th Tennessee Cavalry is difficult because accurate records either were not kept or didn't find their way into the records. According to the Official Records and other sources, in the capture of Thompson’s Station, Armstrong's Brigade, including the 6th Tennessee Regiment, was assigned to Brig. Gen. W.H. Jackson's Division. However, the regiment was not mentioned in the report. It must have been on assignment elsewhere. Jackson's units that were listed as engaged at Thompson's Station included Col. J.W. Whitefield’s Brigade, King’s Battery of 4 guns, and Gen. Cosby’s Brigade of Martin’s Division.

Historian James D. Porter (Confederate Military History) does mention the 6th Tennessee Cavalry in events immediately following the Thompson's Station affair:

After the surrender [i.e., Thompson's Station], Forrest detached Colonel Lewis, First [6th] Tennessee, to make a demonstration on Nashville and he made important captures and returned safely to headquarters. [On the 25th] General Forrest, with the Tenth Tennessee and one gun of Freeman’s battery, dashed down the road toward Franklin and demanded the surrender of the garrison occupying the stockade provided as a defense of the railroad bridge. To Maj. C.W. Anderson, of his staff, the surrender was refused, but one shot from Freeman’s gun brought out a white flag and the surrender of 230 prisoners.

Sources: Official Records, Vol. 23, Pt. 1; Save the Battle of Franklin, Inc.; Confederate Military History, Vol. 8, James D. Porter; The Army of the Cumberland, Henry Martyn Cist