On December 1, 1863, Confederate Brig. Gen. Wirt Adams moved his cavalry from Gallatin to retake Natchez. Finding the city heavily fortified with Union infantry and heavy artillery, Adams moved south of Natchez to Ellis's Cliff, eight miles west of this site, to disrupt Union river traffic. Learning that 1,500 cavalry had arrived from Vicksburg to capture him, he moved his men to Kingston. On December 7, two regiments of Adams brigade defeated a Federal force on the Kingston Road and then departed the Natchez area to regroup.