A Dogged Defense

Most historians consider Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest's West Tennessee Raid a success, and he receives much credit for his actions at Parker's Crossroads. Confederate General Earl Van Dorn's destruction of General Ulysses Grant's supply depot at Holly Springs, Mississippi, and Forrest's destruction of the railroad network in West Tennessee canceled Union plans for a Vicksburg offensive. The Confederacy had checked Grant, but at Parker's Crossroads Forrest wanted to dispatch Colonel Cyrus Dunham's brigade and, if necessary, turn and fight the pursuing brigade. Forrest led with his artillery to save his men. Dunham, who had received much criticism for surrendering his command in September at Munfordville, Kentucky, was determined to hold at all costs. Forrest outnumbered Dunham in men, and his artillery battered the Midwestern brigade. Yet the Union soldiers repulsed the Confederate assault on their rear and held the fence, though the effort divided Dunham's command in half. Forrest, convinced of victory, sent in a flag of truce demanding surrender, which Dunham rejected twice without hesitation. What would have happened had Colonel John W. Fuller's Ohio Brigade not arrived when it did will never be known. Forrest was fighting time as well as the Federal soldiers. The Confederates had forced Dunham's brigade from one position to another all day, yet still they held on. The raw, outnumbered, and outgunned Union force fought tenaciously against Forrest's veterans.

Parker's Crossroads, Tennessee · United States