The largest Civil War engagement in Madison County was fought during a driving rainstorm at the railroad depot, where Confederate forces under Col. Josiah Patterson, about 1000 cavalry and a battery of artillery, crossed the Tennessee River near Triana and attacked a garrison of about 350 men of the 13th Illinois Infantry. Union forces fell back along the railroad toward Huntsville to Indian Creek, then counterattacked after being reinforced by infantry from Huntsville. The Confederates were forced back across the river after burning equipment and cotton at the depot, and casualties were light on both sides. One of the last engagements between regular forces of the Civil War in Madison County occurred about 2 1/2 miles east of there on a bitterly cold day, when Union elements of the 10th and 13th Indiana Cavalries and the 2nd Tennessee Cavalry (US), under Lt. Col. W.F. Prosser, attacked about 300 dismounted cavalry from Roddey's, Burtwell's, and Moreland's regiments under Col. J.R.B. Burtwell. The Union force made a mounted saber charge that led to a disorganized Confederate retreat. Union losses were 1 killed and 3 wounded, while the Confederate loss was reported as several killed and 54 wounded and captured.