In the fall of 1863, as Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman tried to rebuild the Memphis & Charleston Railroad to relieve the besieged Union Army in Chattanooga, his 15th Army Corps met strong Confederate cavalry and artillery resistance under Maj. Gen. Stephen D. Lee and Brig. Gen. Phillip D. Roddey. On the afternoon of October 26, 1863, 8,000 Union troops under Maj. Gen. Frank P. Blair, with division commanders Brig. Gen. Peter J. Osterhaus and Brig. Gen. Morgan L. Smith, advanced along the railroad bed toward Little Bear Creek, one mile east, against 3,500 to 4,000 Confederates posted on the east side of the stream between the Tennessee River and the upper ford about a mile south of the railroad. Owen's Arkansas Battery and Ferrell's Georgia Battery opened fire at a range of 2,500 yards, and the 4th Ohio Battery and 1st Missouri Artillery answered, beginning an artillery duel. Union skirmishers backed by infantry crossed Little Bear Creek on the Confederates' exposed left flank, and Union infantry then made several attacks on Confederate cavalry south of the railroad bridge. Col. Jeffery E. Forrest led a strong charge that pushed Union troops back to the tree line at the creek, but intense Union rifle fire repelled the Confederates and severely wounded Forrest. Both armies withdrew about five o'clock and camped for the night. Early on October 27, 1863, Blair sent a brigade to a ford farther up the creek and attacked there; after a fierce fight, Lee's forces retreated to Tuscumbia and beyond. Federal troops occupied Tuscumbia but withdrew the next day and gave up the unfinished railroad. Sherman then crossed the river and marched through Lauderdale County. About 65 men were killed or wounded at Little Bear Creek, and the Confederates captured a medical supply wagon during the fighting.

Photo: Billy Clemmons

Tuscumbia, Alabama · USA