TNFlag     Civil War and Carroll County, Tennessee    TNFlag

Carroll County, like many other counties in West Tennessee, was a divided county.  Livestock farmers did not have slaves and were for remaining in the Union, cotton growers or row cropper had slaves and were for seceding from the Union.  resulting in their meeting at the Huntingdon Court House in Huntingdon for a heated discussion resulting in those for remaining in the Union leaving by the North door and the others leaving by the South door.
Carroll County is not regarded as a place of much military importance during the Civil War, although many brave men from this area fought and died in that conflict for both sides, not much mention of the events or terrible hardships that came to this part of Tennessee has been made. However, an event on the South Fork of the Obion River between McKenzie and Huntingdon showed what men will endure for a cause they believe in.  The over-night crossing of the flooded South Fork of the Obion River by General Nathan Bedford Forrest and his troops in December 28, 1862 is probably one of the most significant events that took place in Carroll County during this conflict.  It is hard to believe that 2,000 men, with almost that many horses and mules, 12 pieces of artillery and 30 to 40 wagons, accomplished such a feat in such bad weather and in total darkness.  After crossing the Obion River, General Forrest fought the enemy on December 31st, at the famous Battle of Parker's crossroads a few miles south of the Carroll county line in Henderson county, Tennessee.
Let's go back to mid December, 1862 and follow General Nathan Bedford Forrest and the events that led up to his passage through Carroll County.  General Forrest, a military genius, was also a genius at selecting his staff.  Colonel Jacob (Jake) Biffle of Wayne County and Colonel Robert Milton Russell of Trenton, Gibson County are very significant in his success in his first raid into West Tennessee.  General Forrest received his orders from General Braxton Bragg on December 10th at Columbia, Tennessee.
Even though General Forrest had been ordered on the raid, he complained to General Bragg that many of his men were not well equipped.  Some had shotguns, while others had flintlock muskets from the Mexican War of 1846.  Be that as it may, General Forrest accepted his challenge and set his troops in motion from Columbia to Clifton on the Tennessee River.  Clifton was home territory for Colonel Jake Biffle.  He knew that Union troops guarded Cerro Gordo a few miles south, so they chose Clifton to make their crossing.  Reaching Clifton on the 15th of December, a distance of 70 miles, Forrest took time to scout the river for Union gunboats and then began to ferry his men and equipment across the Tennessee River to the Western side.
At this point we should review the situation:  
General Forrest was putting himself and his troops in great danger because of the great task that lay ahead for him in West Tennessee.  Earlier in 1862, General U.S. Grant's Union forces had made a clean sweep of the whole western region of Tennessee.  The North had defeated the South at Columbus, Kentucky, Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, Island No. 10, Fort Pillow, Memphis and the great Battle of Shiloh.  By December of 1862, the Union forces claimed control of western Tennessee and down into Mississippi.  Garrisons had been posted at most towns along the railroads to guard the supply lines from being retaken or destroyed by Southern forces.
After crossing the Tennessee River, General Forrest first encountered the enemy at Lexington on the 17th of December.  He met them head on and forced them back toward Jackson, then out-flanked them and captured 150 men and officers, 2 pieces of artillery, 300 Sharpes carbines, ammunition and 200 horses with some wagons.  Part of the Union cavalry fled back to the safety of Jackson, there proclaiming General Forrest must be 5,000 men strong and was headed to Jackson.  He only had about 1,800 men at this time.
General Forrest reached Jackson on the 18th of December and an estimated a force of 10,000 Union troops.  After a brief skirmish at Salem Church, then Spring Creek, Webb Station and Carroll Station, Forrest left Spring Creek for Humboldt along the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. This was General Grant's supply line between Columbus, Kentucky and Holly Springs, Mississippi.  General Forrest arrived at Shiloh Church near Humboldt on the Peay Ridge Road and sent troops to Humboldt to destroy the bridges on the railroad.  He then took the Peay Ridge Road to Trenton, home of Colonel Robert Milton Russell.  At Humboldt on the 20th of December, part of his force captured 200 prisoners, 500 rifles, 300,000 rounds of ammunition and other supplies.
Meanwhile, General Forrest and the rest of his troops moved on toward Trenton where the girls school cheered as he entered town.  General Forrest positioned his Bull Pups on Texas hill and fired upon the heavily fortified train depot.  After a short time, the Union forces gave up.  Forrest took 400 prisoners, 1,000 horses and mules, 13 wagons, 7 caissons, 20,000 rounds of artillery and 400,000 rounds of small-arms ammunition.  The days take also included 100,000 rations of food and a large amount of clothing., blankets and cavalry equipment valued at $500,000.
On December 21, Forrest moved northward along the Mobile and Ohio Railroad toward Union City.  He left Colonel Jake Biffle and his cavalry to cause havoc along the Christmasville Road to Huntingdon.  As Forrest proceeded to Union City, he captured stockades at Rutherford and Kenton, taking 300 more prisoners and destroying the tracks and bridges through the Obion River bottom there.  Pushing on toward the north, Forrest reached Union City on the afternoon of the 22nd.
Here, as so many times before, General Forrest used his ability for quick and decisive action to capture the town and the 250 Union troops guarding the railroad there.  From Dec.23rd to the 25th, the entire command rested and destroyed railroad bridges around Union City as far north as Moscow, Kentucky.  The 5,000 Union troops at Columbus, Kentucky became so afraid they would be captured, they began dismantling their heavy cannons and dumped their powder in the Mississippi River.
The day after Christmas, General Forrest put his command in motion to the southeast along the Nashville and Northwestern (NWR road) toward Dresden.  He camped there for the night and received reports from his scouts that a force of Union troops were moving from Trenton to Union City and Trenton to Huntingdon to cut him off from returning to the Tennessee River. Forrest quickly moved his troops to McKenzie Station of Carroll County on the afternoon of the 25th of December. 
General Forrest sent Colonel Robert Milton Russell and his men toward Huntingdon 6 or 7 miles to take and hold the crossing of the South Fork of the Obion River.  Scouts reported back about 9 o'clock that night that the Union forces had destroyed the bridges over the South Fork of the Obion River south of the high road going to Paris from Jackson.  Colonel Russell had met enemy there, but had managed to get his men across.  At this news, General Forrest sent Major N.M. Cox at a gallop to seize the road from Huntingdon to Paris and cross if possible and hold the enemy in check.
General Forrest found himself and his troops in a very bad position.  Union troops were coming from Union City behind him and coming from Trenton to Huntingdon in front of him.  General Sullivan's brigade was at Huntingdon, General Dodge was moving up from Corinth, Colonel Lowe from Fort Henry, Colonel Lawler from Jackson and General Haynie sent troops from Trenton.  Forrest was virtually surrounded by several thousand Union troops, with no way to cross the South Fork of the Obion river at flood stage.
Union telegram from Brig. General Jeremiah C. Sullivan to General Grant: Huntingdon, Tn. Dec. 29, 1862 8:06 p.m.
I reached Huntingdon before the rebels knew I had left Trenton.  I have Forrest in a tight place, but he may escape by me not having cavalry......My troops are moving in on him in three directions, and I hope for success.
Realizing the desperate situation he was in, General Forrest knew he must find a way to cross the South Fork of the Obion River and get his troops to safety.  The crossing known as the Double Bridges on the McLemoresville Road, near Big Buck seemed to be the only hope for the rebel raiders and their heavy wagons with the spoils they had collected.  The Union forces had overlooked these bridges as they were thought to be impassable and were left unguarded. 
General Forrest and his brigade reached the South Fork bottom about 11 o'clock on the night of the 28th of December.  They quickly began to cut timbers to brace up the bridges and lay as tracks for the wagons and artillery.  After this was done and the slow painful crossing started, General Forrest drove the first wagon across to inspire his men not to give up.  The General made it across, but the next two teams slipped into the icy backwaters.  Soon, these were pulled out, and the rest were helped across by hand, twenty men to each wagon.  In some cases, the wagons were so heavily loaded that the men threw flour and coffee in the mud holes to get them through. Finally, the artillery was drawn across fifty men to each gun and caisson.  The men were becoming very weary and demoralized by this time from such a hardship.  It is hard to imagine men wading waist-deep freezing water, pushing wagons across a swamp at night in such conditions.  This type of crossing would have been very difficult in daylight in the summer time.
By the morning of the 29th, the men and equipment were all south of the South Fork of the Obion River and headed down the Big Buck Road for McLemoresville.  Colonel Robert Milton Russell and major N.M.  Cox rejoined the command near Newbill's Crossroads.
Remember, Colonel Jake Biffle was left to play havoc along the road from Trenton to Huntingdon.  Colonel Fuller left Trenton on the Christmasville road through Concord to Waterford of the Rutherford Fork of the Obion River.  Colonel Biffle was biting at his heels.  At Waterford, Colonel Fuller was advised by a local man that he should turn right on the Burlington Highway to get to Huntingdon the quickest way.  As he turned right, there was a skirmish at Waterford was the stragglers being overtaken by Colonel Biffle.  Four of these troops were killed and buried on the William Goodman farm in the family graveyard. 
William Goodman was one of the first settlers in Gibson county, thought to have been here before the Chickasaw Indians were removed.  His son Fielding G.  Goodman had a cotton gin at Waterford.  Fielding G.  Goodman was first married to Delila Woodson, sister of Jane Woodson Robinson married to George W.  Robinson who was with General Forrest.  George W's cousin joined R.H.  Goodman (son of F.G.  Goodman) Colonel Biffel's forces the very day that this skirmish happened.  Some think he may be the one that sent Colonel Fuller off on this route to Huntingdon.  Colonel Fuller spent the night at Shady Grove that night instead of Huntingdon because of the extra milage.  Colonel Jake Biffle went on the Jackson with Colonel Stephens.
Near McLemoresville, General Forrest stopped for a time to let his troops rest and fed the animals.  There, he learned of 10,000 Union troops from Huntingdon that were about to move against him.  About 10 o clock, the troops were put into motion on the back roads leading from McLemoresville to Lexington.  Late that afternoon, the troops reached the area around Union Church near flake's Store, about 9 miles north west of Lexington and 6 miles west of Clarksburg. Here they camped for the night and rested the next day, while scouting parties kept a close eye for the enemy. 
About 4 o'clock a.m.  on the 31st of December, General Forrest moved on to Parker's Crossroads where he met the Union forces commanded by Colonel Cyrus Dunham.  As the Union forces drew up in line for battle, General Forrest quickly dismounted Dibrell's and Russell's regiments and put them forward as skirmishes.  The artillery, commanded by Freeman and Morton, was placed on a ridge about 600 yards from the Union position and opened a steady fire upon the Union guns.  After an hour or so of hard fighting, Colonel Dunham's forces were driven back to the east side of the Huntingdon and Lexington road, or southeast of Parker's Crossroads.  By 12 o'clock noon, Forrest's artillery had knocked out all of the Union artillery and driven the Union forces further back across an open field into a clump of woods, killing and wounding many of them.  At this point several white flags began to appear among the forces of Colonel Dunham's beaten forces.  It seemed that General Forrest and his troops had won the battle, the enemy had been driven back steadily for about four hours and now were surrounded by the Confederates. But just as General Forrest was about to accept the surrender of Colonel Dunham and his men, the worst thing that could happen, did. 
Two fresh brigades under General Sullivan and Colonel Fuller slipped in behind General Forrest and were beginning to attack.  Remember, Colonel Fuller would have been there in the morning had not he spent the night at Shady Grove.  The scouts that he had sent to watch for them had not reported back in time and allowed General Forrest to be surprised by the reinforcements.  Also, remember, Colonel Jake Biffle was in Jackson on the morning of December the 31st with Colonel Stephens.  When he first heard the guns at Parker's Crossroads, he came at a gallop.  As he arrived to save General Forrest, again, General Forrest gave his famous reply when asked what to do, Charge them both ways.  Immediately, Forrest and his men began to leave the field of battle and get to safety.  This was done as best they could; many who had dismounted to fight were unable to get back to their horse.  They were able to get 6 pieces of artillery and most of the wagons rolling and on the road to Lexington.  There was some confusion, but most of Forrest's troops escaped capture because Colonel Jake had arrived in time and General Forrest led a fierce counterattack himself.  After stopping briefly in Lexington to eat and feed the animals, General Forrest led his men back to Clifton where they raised the barges they had sunk when crossing before.  They crossed the river on January the 1st, 1863.
The December, 1862 raid into West Tennessee by General Nathan Bedford Forrest was definitely one of his most brilliant expeditions.  In the short 15 day period, Forrest and his men had traveled about 250 miles behind enemy lines, fought daily skirmishes and three sizable battles with the enemy.  Despite all this the command averaged moving 20 miles a day over terrible winter roads.  General Forrest actually ended the campaign with more men than he started with, while killing or capturing 2,500 Union troops.  He had taken or destroyed 10 pieces of artillery, captured 10,000 rifles and pistols and 1,000,000 rounds of ammunition, plus many other supplies, food and equipment.  This raid also destroyed 50 bridges and many miles of track on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad; General Grant's major supply line into West Tennessee and Mississippi.

General Nathan Bedford Forrest (of Prussian fighting descent) with his quickness and ability to disrupt the enemy introduced new tactics of warfare into the Civil War still studied and used today.  Had General Robert E.  Lee known about the tactics of General Forrest in time, he might have used his tactics in other fields of battle.  General Forrest had struck such a blow to General Grant in West Tennessee with such a small force, he should be remembered as The Wizard of the Saddle.  General Sherman also recognized him when he called him That Devil Forrest. But let us not forget, the men he chose to lead under him, Colonel Robert Milton Russell, West Point Graduate, Infantry.  General Forrest had a man to hold the horses while the others fought dismounted.  He only used the horses as transportation unless absolutely necessary.

This article, contributed by Jere R Cox, was taken from an article in the History of Carroll County, Tennessee Volume One, 1987 submitted by Dale Cooper and Colonel Jack Barnett Biffle, Born to Fight by Sons of the South Publications by Brent A.  Cox.  Some of the information was researched by Brent a.  Cox and Dan Kennerly, author of Firstest with the Mostest.

                                                            submitted by Jere R Cox