Meridian Campaign  "Union Troopers Retreat"  February 3 - March 4, 1864

Union Gen. William T. Sherman had given cavalry Gen. William Sooy Smith detailed written instructions on the troopers' role in the February 1864 Meridian campaign. Smith was to command the largest and best equipped body of Union horsemen yet assembled in the western theater. The 7,000 veteran troopers- all armed with new breech-loading carbines and accompanied by 20 cannon- were to move southeast from Colliersville, Miss., on February 1, 1864, strike the Mobile & Ohio Railroad at Okolona, and destroy the tracks down to Meridian. After a scheduled meeting with Sherman's force at Meridian on February 10, the combined command would then continue its rampage eastward to Selma, Ala.

Smith did not begin his march until February 11, a day after he was to have rendezvoused with Sherman. Smith's men reached Okolona on the 18th without meeting opposition, and they began destroying everything in their path. "During two days", reported an officer, "the sky was red with the flames of burning corn and cotton." They also burned dwellings, to such a degree that Smith stated that he was "disgraced by incendiarism of the most shocking kind."

On the 20th, the Yankees found Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest's newly recruited 2,500-man Rebel cavalry force squarely blocking the tracks south of West Point, Miss. Smith was almost two-thirds of the way to Meridian but already 10 days behind schedule, and he was encumbered with about 3,000 slaves who had flocked to him for freedom and protection.

Faced with opposition and believing he was too late to complete his mission, Smith decided to retreat. Forrest "unwilling they should leave the country with a fight", reacted immediately. Yelling "Come on, boys!" he led his men in pursuit. "His immediate presence", recalled one of the inexperienced Rebels, seemed to inspire everyone with his terrible energy..." Within an hour Forrest had two horses shot out from under him and had killed three Yankees in close combat.

Fascinating Fact:  During the pursuit, Forrest came upon the dead body of his younger brother, whom he had raised as a son. He mourned but a minute or two before resuming the chase.


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