Brice's Cross Roads

As Union troops retreated from the Cross Roads before Forrest's main force, the bottleneck at Tishomingo Creek Bridge and the flanking movement of Confederate Colonel Barteau's 2nd Tennessee regiment nearly brought disaster. Steep banks, creek waters swollen by days of rain, and the confusion of a disorganized retreat involving a supply train of 200 wagons almost caused the loss of the entire Union expeditionary force there. Colonel Edward F. Winslow recalled that a shell bursting near him and General Grierson first signaled defeat, and that on his ride to the front he found the road to the bridge clogged with an indiscriminate mass of wagons, artillery, caissons, ambulances, and broken, disorganized troops. At the bridge, the Fourth Iowa was forced to dismount and take position on a small hill in front to check the enemy while their horses crossed the creek, and by this action two infantry regiments retreating in disorder were saved from destruction or capture.

Mississippi · United States