On November 29, 1864, General Nathan B. Forrest approached Spring Hill from the east at 11:30 a.m. General James Chalmers then launched an attack to seize the Columbia-Nashville Pike to the west, but strong Union forces surprised and defeated him. After Chalmers returned, Forrest remarked, "They was in there sure enough, wasn't they, Chalmers?" At 3:45 p.m., Major General Patrick Cleburne's division attacked the Union forces and defeated Brigadier General Luther P. Bradley's brigade, but Union resistance and darkness halted Cleburne's pursuit of Bradley's brigade.