Iowa 2nd Volunteer Cavalry (Union)

Island Number Ten

In addition to prosecuting the coastal blockade and pursuing Confederate commerce raiders, the U.S. Navy's other main role in the Civil War, and arguably its most important one, was seizing and controlling the Mississippi River and its tributaries. In this effort, the main obstacle was not the tiny Confederate navy, but rather the formidable shore fortifications erected by the Confederates along the banks of the Tennessee, Cumberland and Mississippi Rivers. This war, therefore, was less often a matter of s…READ MORE

Lieutenant ColonelEdward Hatch

ColonelPhilip H. Sheridan

ColonelWashington Lafayette Elliott until 1 June

Brigadier GeneralGordon Granger

Siege of Corinth

Union forces had captured the railroad junction and important transportation center at Corinth, Mississippi in the spring of 1862 after their victory at Shiloh. After the Battle of Iuka in September, Maj. Gen. Sterling Price's Confederate Army of the West marched to Ripley, Mississippi where it joined Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn's Army of West Tennessee. Van Dorn took command of the combined force numbering about 22,000 men. The Rebels marched southeast toward Corinth, hoping to recapture it and then sweep int…READ MORE

ColonelEdward Hatch

ColonelJohn K. Mizner

Iuka

Maj. Gen. Sterling Price's Army of the West main column marched into Iuka, Mississippi, on September 14th. Price's superior, Gen. Braxton Bragg, had ordered Price to prevent Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans's Army of the Mississippi from moving into Tennessee and reinforcing Nashville. Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, commanding the Army of the Tennessee, feared that Price intended to go north to join Bragg. Grant devised a plan for his left wing commander, Maj. Gen. E.O.C. Ord, to advance on Iuka from the west;…READ MORE

MajorDatus E. Coon

ColonelAlbert L. Lee

Battle of Corinth

Not to be confused with Siege of Corinth. Also known as Second Battle of Corinth.READ MORE

Grierson's Raid

Grierson's men were sent on raids to divert from Ulysses S Grant's main attack on Vicksburg. Grierson's men operated in much the same way that Confederate cavalry under Nathan Bedford Forrest and John Hunt Morgan had.READ MORE

Okolona

Meridian, Mississippi, near the Alabama border 130 miles east of Vicksburg, was an important Confederate railroad center and military facility. Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman set out for the town from Vicksburg in early February, 1864, with 20,000 men. Hoping to augment his force with cavalry, Sherman ordered the 7,000 troopers of Brig. Gen. William Sooy Smith to move from south from Memphis February 1st and meet him at Meridian. Smith inexplicably delayed his march for ten days. When he eventually left, he…READ MORE

Tupelo

Union Maj. Gen. Andrew J. Smith, commanding the Sixteenth Corps with more than 14,000 men, left LaGrange, Tennessee on July 5, 1864, and advanced south. Smith's mission was to insure that Maj. Gen. Nathan B. Forrest and his cavalry did not raid Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's railroad supply line in middle Tennessee supporting the campaign against Atlanta. Laying waste to the countryside as he advanced, Smith reached Pontotoc, Mississippi, on July 11th. Forrest was in nearby Okolona with about 6,000 men, bu…READ MORE

MajorCharles C. Horton

ColonelDatus E. Coon

Brigadier GeneralEdward Hatch

Franklin (1864)

After allowing Maj. Gen. John Schofield's Army of the Ohio to pass him near Spring Hill, Tennessee, the previous morning, Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood led his 30,000-man Army of Tennessee to the outskirts of Franklin on November 30th. Schofield's army had constructed a strong defensive line south of the town. Hood took a position two miles south of Schofield, with open, rolling farm land between them, and prepared to attack. At 4:00 p.m., over 20,000 Confederates moved forward east and west of the Columbia Pike…READ MORE

Nashville

Despite a series of defeats in the closing days of November, 1864, Confederate Lieut. Gen. John Bell Hood continued to drag his bloodied Army of Tennessee, approximately 30,000 strong, north towards Nashville. The city was protected by 55,000 Union soldiers, which should have precluded further offensive operations, but Hood was determined and his situation was dire. Hood reached Nashville on December 2nd and staked out a position south of the city, hoping to draw the Union forces into a costly attack. Ulys…READ MORE