Corinth, MS - Brices Cross Roads

It’s another day in Corinth, MS so it must be another Civil War battle. And, if you think that I’m grooving on all this history, you are right. I taught high school history for 10 years and several of those years I taught Advanced Placement American History. Today, the prediction is for rain and more rain so we’ve decided to head south 40 miles to Brices Cross Roads - thinking that it will be a smaller battleground and thus less territory to walk in the rain.

Another excellent interpretive center although privately owned. We met a very helpful volunteer who took us through the museum and showed us some of his favorite spots and bits of information. Brices Cross Roads is not one of the most important battles of the Civil War but interestingly it is studied by many both from the US and abroad who want to see a textbook example of a cavalry battle, Planned it well, Executed it well and - it actually worked.

At the end of this blog will be a 10-pt quiz.

The battle of Brices Cross Roads stars Nathan Bedford Forrest who, with little formal education and no military training, rose quickly through the Confederate ranks because he had an innate sense of cavalry battle tactics. This battle has sometimes been called ‘Forrest’s Finest Hour.’ After the battle of Shiloh and Corinth, he was regularly disrupting the Union supply lines, both Grants and Sherman’s in his march from Atlanta to the Sea.

Sherman ordered Brig Gen Samuel D. Sturgis and 8100 Union infantry and cavalry to eliminate Forrest and his 3500 troops.

Forrest studied the Union army and learned that the cavalry always started 3 hours ahead of the infantry. His plan was to stop the cavalry first in a surprise attack and then, when the infantry was sent to help the cavalry, to engage them when they were tired from the quick move forward. Finally, he wanted to push the entire Union army towards the creek with its one bridge.

And, that’s exactly what happened although Forrest was also aided by weather, bad decisions on the part of some unknown Union officer and good intelligence. First it had rained for several days and the roads, which were usually muddy became a mire and moving troops and supplies was extremely slow and difficult. Secondly, some unknown Union officer moved the entire supply train with it wagons and 6-mule teams across the river so that, when the Union army turned to flee, they couldn’t get across the bridge for all the mules, wagons and supplies also trying to get across the bridge. Finally, the Confederates were fighting on their home turf and there were many who helped them with information. One other factor which could help account for the smashing Union defeat: many of the Union soldiers were under-supplied and had been on half-rations and, when they rushed forward at double-time to help the cavalry, were exhausted while the Confederate troops were fresh.

The Union lines broke and they couldn’t get back to Memphis fast enough. They shed their guns, their ammunition, their shoes (I read this but can’t believe they would do this) in their pell-mell retreat.

In the end though Forrest won the battle, he lost the war. He was pre-occupied with not just fighting Sturgis but others sent after him and Sherman’s supply lines kept operating.

There are Civil War graveyards all over this section of Mississippi.

Several other interesting points: Although African Americans had not been trusted to be good soldiers and were usually relegated to guarding supplies, in this case a well-trained unit of the USCT (United States Colored Troops) under the command of Col. Edward Bouton fought hard near the bridge in a holding action to give Sturgis’ troops more time to escape.

Sturgis himself, seeing the rout and conceding that he had no control of the troops, moved ahead and ‘scouted’ a route for them to get back to Memphis. For all this, he was reassigned to the western frontier and was finally to lead the 7th Cavalry against Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce in 1877. If I were to ask you what famous town was named after him, I’m sure you all would guess it.

At one point Forrest’s artillery men rolled their cannon forward 3 miles by hand pounding the Union army unmercifully. The Forrest told them to charge the Union soldiers. Artillery, leading a charge? Their 21-yr old commander did, the Union retreated more and they won that part of the battle.

William ‘Buffalo Bill’ Cody was involved in this battle as a scout for the Union.

Forrest, Sherman, Cody - all well known. But what about Jennie Hodgers? Have you ever heard of her? Or have you ever heard of Albert Cashier?

She was one of the most interesting characters in the battle. She was born in Ireland in 1843 and then disappeared into history. We do know that a young man named Albert Cashier, about the same height and weight, enlisted in the 95th Illinois Infantry on August 6, 1852 to fight in the Civil War. He was shy, kept mostly to himself was considered to be a good soldier and was the shortest soldier in the regiment. He fought at Vicksburg, the Battle of Nashville, the battles at Kennesaw Mountain and - Brices Cross Roads and several other battles. At one point of his army service he was captured but overcame his guards and escaped.

He served for 3 years, was mustered out and survived when 289 others in the regiment died of death and disease. He returned to Illinois, and held jobs varying from janitor to street lamplighter to cemetery worker to farmhand. He even collected a veterans pension and voted - and remember, women could not vote at this time.

But, she was undone when she was hit by a car, broke her leg in 1910 and had to enter the hospital. Not easy to keep her kind of secret in a hospital. However they were cool about it and said that her secret was safe with them and sent her to recover in the local Soldiers and Sailors Home in Quincy, IL. Finally, when she developed dementia, attendants in the local hospital for the insane discovered her secret and forced her to wear a dress. Soon everyone knew and the jig was up.

However, her old comrades had not forgotten her, protested and, when she died in 1915, saw to it that she was buried in full uniform with Albert Cashier and here military service dates written on her tombstone. In the 1970s, a second tombstone, with the name Jennie Hodgers, was placed next to the original grave. Most interesting story.

Oh, my, did I mention that it was raining? All day? Who in their right mind would walk a battlefield in the rain? You guessed it - Nancy and Gary. Here is a picture I took, but my hands are all over it as I tried to shield the lens. Great picture taking, huh?

But now it’s time to head back to the RV.

On the way back we saw the famous home of Slugburgers and - we had to try the local favorite.