Battle of Brice's Cross Roads

Other Names: Tishomingo Creek

Location: Near Baldwyn, Mississippi

Campaign: Forrest's Defense of Mississippi (1864)

Date: June 10, 1864

Principal Commanders: Brig. Gen. Samuel D. Sturgis [US]; Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest [CS]

Forces Engaged: 3,500 cavalry [US]; 4,800 infantry, 3,300 cavalry, 22 guns [CS]

Casualties and losses: 3,105 total (US 2,610; CS 495)

Result(s): Confederate victory

Brief Description:

At the beginning of June 1864, Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest set out with his cavalry corps of about 2,000 men to enter Middle Tennessee and destroy the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad, which was carrying men and supplies to Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman in Georgia. On June 10, 1864, Forrest's smaller Confederate force defeated a much larger Union column under Brig. Gen. Samuel Sturgis at Brice's Cross Roads. This brilliant tactical victory against long odds cemented Forrest's reputation as one of the foremost mounted infantry leaders of the war. During the retreat, Black Union troops inflicted heavy losses on Forrest's troops, a turn of events seen as revenge for the Fort Pillow massacre of Black Union troops by Confederates under Forrest, which allowed Sturgis to escape and plan further raids.