In April 1863, with Union forces in the West stalled and Confederate attacks on Union supply lines flourishing, Union cavalry launched raids into Confederate territory to disrupt supply routes and divert attention. One of these raids, commanded by Colonel Abel D. Streight, moved from Eastport, Mississippi, through northern Alabama toward Rome, Georgia. His provisional brigade included the 51st and 73rd Indiana, 3rd Ohio, and 18th Illinois regiments and two companies of the 1st Alabama Union Cavalry, a force of 1,800 men, most mounted on mules. Streight set out on April 19, 1863, aiming to strike Confederate supply routes more than 200 miles away, but his movement was discovered and Confederate troops under General Nathan Bedford Forrest began pursuing him on April 28. Forrest caught Streight's rearguard at Day's Gap on Sand Mountain on the morning of April 30, where Streight captured two Confederate cannons and a running battle continued throughout the day. As darkness fell, Streight occupied a strong position on Hog Mountain. After fighting there, Forrest continued the pursuit for another 110 miles, using bluffs and ruses that led Streight to believe he faced a much larger force. On May 3, with his men exhausted, his mules in desperate condition, and believing himself outnumbered, Streight surrendered about 1,500 men to Forrest's fewer than 500 only 20 miles from Rome, Georgia.