United States Colored Troops formed the majority of Johnsonville's garrison and played a crucial role in building the depot and its defensive works. They manned the blockhouse defending the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad and fought at the Battle of Johnsonville on November 4, 1864. Johnsonville's 2,500-man garrison consisted of the 12th and 13th U.S. Colored Infantries, the 43rd Wisconsin Infantry, and Meig's Battery, Company A, 2nd U.S. Colored Light Artillery. In early November 1864, the garrison faced Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest. Although Forrest's attack succeeded, the men fought well: the gunners of Meig's Battery hit one of the Confederate guns and forced it to pull back, and sharpshooters of the 13th U.S. Colored Infantry drove Confederate soldiers from the riverbank. All of the United States Colored Troops who fought at Johnsonville later faced the Confederates again at the Battle of Nashville on December 15-16, 1864. As part of the Second Colored Brigade, they were in the forefront of the assault on the Confederate works on Peach Orchard Hill, also called Overton Hill, where their valor and determination earned praise from both their Union comrades and the Confederates they fought, while the 13th U.S. Colored Infantry lost 40% of its men in the assault.