Surprise and Chaos

As the two sides met under a flag of truce, Colonel John W. Fuller's Ohio Brigade attacked the Confederate rear and took General Nathan Bedford Forrest completely by surprise. Chaos followed as Forrest's men fled the onrushing Union infantry, and the arrival of Union reinforcements further astounded him because he had left four companies at Clarksburg to guard against that possibility. Forrest wrote that to his surprise and astonishment fire was opened on his rear and the enemy in heavy force under General J.C. Sullivan advanced. Union soldiers were also amazed by the sudden turn of events: Corporal Lucius Corbin recalled charging the Confederates in the rear, then seeing reinforcements come up behind the rebels and sweep the field to the Union side, while Private William Peter remembered hearing firing to the north after Dunham refused a second demand for surrender and then receiving the good news that reinforcements had arrived. Confederate Colonel George Dribrell wrote that Forrest then ordered a retreat carried out in much confusion, with horse-holders demoralized and many men captured while trying to get their horses, including Forrest's adjutant, Major John Strange. Fuller said Dunham's soldiers were so dumbfounded by what they saw that Colonel Dunham's command did not fire a shot as the enemy moved past their flanks to their rear.

Parker's Crossroads, Tennessee · United States