At mid-day on December 31, 1862, at the beginning of the battle, the Union wagon train was north of the crossroads. It moved three times and was shelled once by Forrest's artillery. Its last location was in the creek bottom northwest of this spot. There, Confederate Major John P. Strange captured the wagons, which were guarded by one company each from the 122nd Illinois and the 39th Iowa. A number of the Union soldiers, now with a large part of their ammunition in the hands of the enemy, surrendered for lack of powder and ball. East of here, a ravine ran northward to the rear of the Union line along the split-rail fence. Dismounted Confederate cavalrymen used this ravine to come at them from behind, hastening the appearance of white flags from the Union line.