When Major General Ulysses Grant's army crossed the Mississippi River, Confederate Lieutenant General John Pemberton realized he needed more men and ordered Brigadier General John Gregg's brigade out of Port Hudson, Louisiana, to Jackson, Mississippi. The brigade had been split in response to one of Grant's diversions, Colonel Benjamin Grierson's cavalry raid: the 7th Texas Infantry and three guns had been sent 30 miles north to Woodville, Mississippi, while Gregg's four Tennessee regiments remained at Port Hudson. On May 2, 1863, the scattered brigade began the 55-mile march to Osyka, Mississippi, near the Louisiana-Mississippi state line, planning to take a train to Jackson, but Grierson's raiders had destroyed a 20-mile stretch of railroad from Summit to Brookhaven, forcing the footsore troops to march to Brookhaven before finally boarding a train for the ride north. Gregg's brigade arrived in Jackson just before dark on Saturday, May 9, and on Sunday night, May 10, Pemberton ordered Gregg to take his brigade southwest to Raymond. The troops marched out of Jackson at 5 a.m. on Monday, May 11, arrived in Raymond at 4 p.m., and encamped in a field near town.
