Mississippi History Timeline

Union General William T. Sherman left Vicksburg on February 2 and advanced east to Meridian, meeting only token Confederate resistance from Lieutenant General Leonidas Polk’s forces. On February 14, Sherman entered Meridian and destroyed much of the railroad infrastructure in Meridian and the surrounding area. The expedition returned to Vicksburg by way of Canton.

Image:  This “Sherman Necktie” was found in the Pearl River near Jackson.  It was common practice for Sherman’s army to heat and bend railroad tracks so that they could no longer be used.

As part of Sherman’s Meridian Expedition, Union cavalry under William Sooy Smith moved down the Mobile & Ohio R.R. to West Point, where forces under Nathan Bedford Forrest met Smith’s expedition. After a running cavalry battle through Okolona, Smith retreated to Memphis and was unable to join Sherman in Meridian.

With Sherman engaged in the Atlanta Campaign, Union forces were sent to hold Forrest in north Mississippi and keep Confederate cavalry from raiding Sherman’s supply lines in Georgia. One of the resulting expeditions, under Samuel Sturgis, was routed at Brice’s Crossroads by Forrest’s men.

Image:  Uniform coat worn by Colonel Frank A. Montgomery who served in Forrest’s Cavalry.

East of present-day Alcorn State University, two regiments of United States Colored Troops were credited with saving a Union expeditionary force from complete destruction.

Union forces from Vicksburg under Henry W. Slocum were sent back to Jackson to destroy Confederate railroad facilities.

Union General A. J. Smith, sent on another expedition to fight Forrest, defeated both General Stephen D. Lee and Forrest at the battle of Tupelo July 14–15.

Union General A.J. Smith led an expedition to Oxford from LaGrange, Tenn. During the expedition, Union troops burned much of the town.

A number of raids from November to January 1865, including General Davidson’s raid from Baton Rouge to West Pascagoula, General Grierson’s raid down the Mobile & Ohio RR and southwest to Vicksburg, and expeditions to Woodville and Natchez, resulted in further destruction of Confederate resources and infrastructure.