In 1862 and 1863, Confederate cavalry raids along the Louisville and Nashville Railroad often shut down operations and slowed supplies into Nashville, leading the Union army to build a supply depot at Johnsonville, the terminus of the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad on the Tennessee River, which supplied the Federal army during the 1864 Atlanta campaign. Late in 1864, Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest moved on Johnsonville to cut off supply lines to Gen. William T. Sherman’s army as it marched through Georgia. Forrest and his 3,500 man command reached the west bank of the Tennessee River late in October and engaged Union gunboats north of here at Paris Landing. On November 4, he posted his artillery across from Johnsonville and bombarded the Federal positions and vessels. Fearing that Forrest planned to cross the river and overestimating the size of his force, Union Col. Charles R. Thompson ordered Union vessels burned. The fire spread through the depot, and damage was later estimated at more than two million dollars. Forrest suffered only two casualties, outwitted his opponents, and won a decisive victory. The Federals soon returned Johnsonville to operation, and in less than six months the war was over.