Injuring Sherman

By the fall of 1864, as the Confederacy faced a worsening war and the Union invasion of the Deep South ravaged both soldiers and civilians, Confederate Lt. Gen. Richard Taylor ordered Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest to disrupt the supply line of Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's army in Georgia by blockading the Tennessee River and then attacking the Union depot at Johnsonville. Forrest left Corinth, Mississippi, on October 16, moved north to Jackson, Tennessee, joined Brig. Gen. James R. Chalmers's Division on October 20, and on October 24 occupied Fort Heiman, Kentucky, just north of Paris Landing, Tennessee, where he placed artillery batteries that temporarily severed waterborne communication between Johnsonville and the North by the end of the month. On November 1, Forrest marched his 3000 cavalrymen through rain and mud toward Johnsonville, and after reporting the presence of Union gunboats, transports, and barges there, Confederate artillery bombarded the depot from the western shore of the Tennessee River at 2:00 P.M. on November 4. The bombardment set numerous fires, and Union boats were burned to prevent Forrest from using them to cross the river and seize military supplies; within two hours, much of the Union fleet and millions of dollars in supplies intended for Sherman's army in Georgia were destroyed. Although the attack was a brief and brilliantly planned Confederate victory, it came too late to affect the outcome of the war, and Sherman instead cut his own supply line and ordered his troops to live off the land during his March to the Sea.

Tennessee · United States