Fuller's Assault

Colonel John W. Fuller's Ohio Brigade left Huntingdon well before dawn on December 31. Just north of Clarksburg, around 10:30 a.m., Fuller received orders from Generals Jeremiah Sullivan and Isham Haynie to wait for the rear guard before resuming the march. Soon afterward, he learned that an enemy patrol had attacked the generals and their escort. Fuller quickly marched toward Clarksburg, where he found that Dunham's brigade had left some hours earlier. After a ten-minute wait with no word from Sullivan or Haynie, he pressed southward. Not far along, the brigade heard cannonading. Within two miles of Parker's Crossroads, Fuller received orders to wait for Sullivan, who was three miles behind with the rear guard. Fuller sent the brigade adjutant to Sullivan to request that the order be countermanded, then received confirmation that a large Confederate force stood between his brigade and Dunham's. Convinced Sullivan would approve, Fuller immediately moved south. His brigade reached the battlefield and took position as flags of truce were being passed near the split-rail fence. The 27th and 63rd Ohio formed on the left of the Lexington-Huntingdon Road, the 39th Ohio on the right, and the 7th Wisconsin Battery prepared three cannon on the ridge. Their approach went unnoticed by Confederates focused on Dunham's brigade, then split into two isolated remnants, and on the apparent Union surrender. The Ohio Brigade attacked Confederate gunners and infantry from the rear. Two Union cannon were moved in front of the Parker house, while the third, west of the road, fired shot and shell at the fleeing Confederates. The horseholders of Cox's battalion bore the brunt of the first infantry assault and broke ranks in panic. A Confederate victory that had seemed certain moments earlier collapsed under Fuller's timely attack.

Parker's Crossroads, Tennessee · United States