On October 11, 1863, the early portion of the Battle of Collierville was fought from this ridge, where Union forces partially defended the position but Confederate cavalry under Gen. James R. Chalmers, numbering about 3,000, secured it and held it for five hours before Union reinforcements drove Chalmers back into Mississippi. The ridge was already being contested by Col. Dewitt C. Anthony's 66th Indiana Infantry Volunteers, and Anthony's regiment together with a small group of the 13th U.S. Regular Infantry, the escort of Gen. William T. Sherman, gave the defending Union garrison of Collierville about 480 men. In the weeks after that fight, the same ridge figured prominently in the November 3, 1863, battle, after Union troops had manned it with rifle pits. By then the post at Collierville was commanded by Lt.-Col. George W. Trafton and his 7th Illinois Cavalry, whose garrison consisted of eight companies, while Chalmers again led the Confederate attack with about 2,500 troopers. Col. Edward Hatch, having received a telegram in Germantown, Tennessee, about eight miles away, that Chalmers's cavalry was moving on Collierville, came quickly with the 2nd Iowa Cavalry and additional artillery, arriving almost at the same time as Chalmers. Hatch's report gave the combined strength of his command and Trafton's at 850 men, and the battle ended with Chalmers failing to take the garrison and returning to Oxford, Mississippi. In the November 3, 1863, battle, both Union and Confederate forces were cavalry.