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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