Union Wagon Train

The safety of supply trains could determine the success or failure of a campaign. When Dunham deployed his forces along the Lexington-Huntingdon Road, the Union wagon train was sent to the rear into a hollow where the terrain concealed the wagons and offered some protection. When Confederates charged the Union rear, the wagons were caught in the middle. Two companies guarding the train met the charge, but some wagoners panicked and drove deeper into the hollow, where they were captured. After learning this, Dunham asked for volunteers to retake the wagons, and Captain Charles A. Cameron of Company G immediately stepped forward. Company G, under Major Horace N. Atkinson of the 50th Indiana, advanced toward the Confederates and not only recaptured the wagons but also captured several Confederate officers, including Major John P. Strange, General Forrest's adjutant, and Colonel McKee, his aid. The wagons were retaken as Colonel Fuller's Ohio Brigade arrived on the battlefield, scattered the Confederates, and ended the Battle of Parker's Crossroads. Supplying an army on the march required quartermaster, commissary, ammunition, and ambulance wagons carrying rations, ammunition, arms, tents, blankets, cooking equipment, lanterns, horse equipment, feed, medical supplies, and other necessities; although no record survives of the exact number of Union wagons at Parker's Crossroads, the Quartermaster Department specified 10 wagons per brigade plus extras, and Dunham's brigade was probably accompanied by fifteen or more wagons.

Parker's Crossroads, Tennessee · United States