Collierville's location on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad made it strategically important throughout the Civil War, and because Union forces frequently occupied the town, Confederate cavalry repeatedly targeted it in efforts to sever Federal lines of communication and supply. On October 11, 1863, about 3,000 Confederate cavalrymen and artillerists under Gen. James R. Chalmers drove north and attacked Union Col. DeWitt Clinton Anthony's 600 men of the 66th Indiana Infantry, camped along the railroad. As the outnumbered Federals took up defensive positions, a train traveling from Memphis to Corinth, Mississippi, arrived carrying a battalion of the 13th U.S. Regulars along with Gen. William T. Sherman and his staff. Chalmers sent a flag of truce demanding Anthony's surrender, but Anthony delayed his refusal while the regulars detrained and occupied the nearby fort and rifle pits. Sherman ordered the train back to the depot, and Chalmers' artillery opened fire, damaging the engine but doing little else. Federal infantry then charged and drove the Confederates away from the train, which they had briefly boarded. Late in the afternoon, as Union Gen. John M. Corse approached from Memphis with his brigade, Chalmers retired, and the railroad remained in Union hands.