Forrest's Artillery

At the Battle of Parker's Crossroads, Forrest used artillery in a brilliant and unconventional way by placing it in front of his troops rather than behind them and maintaining a continuous barrage that forced Federal troops into a position of his choosing. When the Union line withdrew to a split-rail fence, he ordered the guns forward across muddy ground, where their crews pushed and pulled the pieces ahead, stopped to fire, and then advanced again until Confederate artillery stood west, north, and east of the Union line at less than 200 yards. Three Federal attempts to charge the guns were repulsed. Lieut. Amariah L. Huggins, beside Sergeant Nat Baxter's 12-pounder howitzer, recalled that the enemy was so close that Dibrell's men had to fire lying down, and that Baxter loaded the gun himself while lying on his back and ramming the charge home as Huggins repeatedly fired his Navy Colt at advancing Union troops. After the artillery contained the Union line, Forrest moved his battle line into small arms range and began a flanking maneuver that split the Union force in two and brought it to the brink of surrender. Confederate artillery, probably part of Captain Samuel Freeman's battery, occupied a position 500 feet east of the Union line, and friction primers found by archaeologists on a low rise about 600 feet east confirmed the presence of Confederate guns there.

Parker's Crossroads, Tennessee · United States