Wednesday, August 20, 2014

August 21, 1864---General Washburn's escape



AUGUST 21, 1864:    

The Second Battle of Memphis:     

General Nathan Bedford Forrest C.S.A. leads 2,000 mounted cavalry on a daring dawn raid in Memphis, Tennessee, the purposes of which are to disrupt Union communications and supply lines, seize supplies, release Confederate Prisoners of War, and capture ranking Union officers. 

Aided by a thick dawn fog which muffles his horses and obscures his forces, Forrest surprises Union General C.C. Washburn, who escapes clad only in a nightshirt (Forrest later returns the General’s uniform under a flag of truce, a gentlemanly, if mocking, act). Washburn’s ignominious evasion took place down a street known today as “General Washburn’s Escape Alley.” 

Forrest takes Memphis for the day and despoils the city of whatever his men can carry. The approach of a Union force in strength compels Forrest to withdraw, but the raid proves an embarrassment to the Union, which is forced to beef up the local garrison in order to deter any more raids (as the original garrison troops were culled from Sherman’s Atlanta force, it could be said that Forrest had succeeded in briefly weakening the Union offensive against that city).



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