Overview
Wilson’s Raid, also known as Wilson’s Selma Raid, was a Union cavalry campaign carried out from March 22 to April 20, 1865, against one of the Confederacy’s most important military centers. General James H. Wilson left Gravelly Springs, Alabama, with 13,500 troopers and advanced on three different routes to confuse General Nathan Bedford Forrest’s cavalry.
At first, the opposing forces had little contact, but Wilson occupied Elyton on March 30 and sent John T. Croxton’s brigade to Tuscaloosa, where the University of Alabama was burned.
The campaign turned with fighting at Montevallo on March 31 and Ebenezer Church on April 1. Wilson defeated Forrest at Montevallo, and although Forrest made a strong stand at Ebenezer Church with 2,000 men and repulsed one attack, Union forces eventually broke his line and forced the Confederates to retreat. Forrest then fell back to Selma, where he joined General Richard Taylor and about 5,000 Confederate defenders.
On April 2, Wilson dismounted 9,000 men and attacked Selma in three columns. General Eli Long struck the Confederate right, Emory Upton attacked the left, and Union forces broke through the defenses, drove the Confederates away, and captured the city.
After leaving Selma on April 9, Wilson captured Montgomery, Columbus, and Macon, where he learned of General Robert E. Lee’s Surrender at Appomattox and General Joseph Johnston’s Surrender at Bennett Place. Wilson remained in Macon and sent scouting parties out to search for fleeing Confederate officials. On May 10, some of his men captured Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America.
Essential Facts
- Also Known As: Wilson’s Selma Raid.
- Dates: March 22–April 20, 1865.
- Key Union Leaders: James H. Wilson, John T. Croxton, Edward M. McCook, Eli Long, and Emory Upton.
- Key Confederate Leaders: Nathan Bedford Forrest, Richard Taylor.
- Who Won: Union forces won Wilson’s Raid.
- Part of: Civil War Timeline (January to December 1865).
Significance
Wilson’s Raid is important to American History because of its role in ending Confederate military resistance in Alabama and Georgia. After defeating Confederate forces at Selma, General James H. Wilson pushed deeper into Confederate territory and captured more cities in Alabama and Georgia. The raid was one of the Union’s most successful operations of the war and helped weaken the Confederacy at the same time General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox. In the weeks after the raid, Wilson’s men captured the Confederacy’s President, Jefferson Davis.
History
Prelude
On March 12, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Ulysses S. Grant as General-in-Chief of the Armies of the United States. Upon his arrival in Washington, Grant drafted a plan to have the various Union armies in the field act in concert and strike the Confederacy from several directions:
- Grant would travel with Major General George Meade’s Army of the Potomac in pursuit of General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia in the Richmond, Virginia area.
- Major General William T. Sherman would march three Union armies south from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to capture Atlanta, Georgia.
- Major General Franz Sigel would invade western Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley to cut off supplies to Lee’s army and to prevent any Confederate attempts to attack Meade’s flank.
The Union Army of the Potomac relentlessly engaged the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia throughout the spring of 1864. By June, Grant forced Lee to retreat to the Richmond-Petersburg area. Afterward, both armies entrenched, and a stalemate ensued for ten months.
Meanwhile, in the West, Sherman captured Atlanta in early September 1864. Before embarking on his March to the Sea, he sent Major General George H. Thomas, commanding the Army of the Cumberland, in pursuit of Lieutenant General John Bell Hood, whose Army of Tennessee (CSA) threatened to occupy Tennessee after evacuating Atlanta.
Thomas subdued Hood’s army at the Battle of Nashville (December 15–16, 1864), and thereafter faced little organized resistance in the West. Upon Thomas’s recommendation, Grant then approved the formation of a new cavalry force to invade the Deep South.
New Union Cavalry Force
In the spring of 1865, Brevet Major General James H. Wilson assembled over 13,000 Federal cavalrymen at Gravelly Springs, Alabama, on the Tennessee River, and began training.
This force comprised three divisions commanded by Brigadier General Edward M. McCook, Brigadier General Eli Long, and Major General Emory Upton. Well-armed with Spencer repeating carbines, Wilson’s cavalry crossed the Tennessee River on March 22, targeting coal mines, ironworks, mills, munitions manufacturers, and anything else that could aid the Confederate Cause.
- Wilson led 13,500 troops south from Gravelly Springs, Alabama, on March 22, 1865.
- He moved his force along three different routes to confuse Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest, who commanded Confederate forces in the region.
Confederate Opposition
Forrest commanded roughly 2,500 regulars from the Cavalry Corps of the Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana, and opposed Wilson as he raided the South.
Reinforced by poorly trained and ill-equipped state militia, which included old men and boys spread across the region, Forrest commanded roughly 5,000 soldiers at the height of the operation.
Outnumbered and outgunned, Forrest’s troops offered little resistance to Wilson’s cavalry as it moved quickly into Alabama.
- There was little contact between the two forces in the early days of the raid.
- Forrest called for reinforcements from the divisions of James R. Chalmers and William H. Jackson, but he could do little until they arrived.
Montevallo and Ebenezer Church
Wilson easily rolled through northern and central Alabama, destroying ironworks at Elyton, Brierfield, Tannehill, and Montevallo.
- Union forces occupied the Elyton Ironworks in Birmingham on March 30, 1865.
- Wilson sent John T. Croxton’s brigade to raid Tuscaloosa, Alabama. On April 4, Croxton and his men burned the University of Alabama.
Wilson’s progress was nearly uncontested until Forrest engaged him at Montevello on March 31. Wilson pushed through, driving Forrest back to Ebenerzer Church, roughly 20 miles from Selma.
The two forces clashed in the Battle of Ebenezer Church on April 1. Although Forrest mounted a spirited defense, Wilson overwhelmed him. Forrest was wounded in the battle, and he withdrew to the defensive works around Selma.
- At Selma, Forrest joined with Lieutenant General Richard Taylor.
- That night, they were joined by reinforcements from Chalmers’ command.
- Roughly 5,000 Confederate troops were defending Selma.
Battle of Selma
The next day, April 2, 1865, Wilson dismounted around 9,000 of his cavalrymen, divided them into three columns, and launched an assault against the Confederates.
- Brigadier General Eli Long’s division attacked the Confederate right at about 5:00.
- Emory Upton’s division attacked the Confederate left.
- Union forces broke through the Confederate defenses and captured Selma.
- The Federals captured the city’s warehouses and foundries.
- Forrest and Taylor were withdrawing from Selma by 7:00.
Meanwhile, roughly 700 miles to the northeast, Robert E. Lee began evacuating Richmond and Petersburg that same night and moved toward Appomattox Court House.
- During the Battle of Selma, Wilson’s troops captured over 2,500 Confederate prisoners, 102 cannons, munitions, and supplies.
- Afterward, they spent several days destroying the city’s arsenal, foundries, and ironworks, depriving the South of one of its major manufacturing centers.
Destruction in Montgomery, Alabama
On April 9, 1865, Wilson left Selma and turned east toward the Alabama state capital at Montgomery.
Three days later, on April 12, his soldiers occupied Montgomery unopposed after the few Confederate defenders there moved to Columbus, Georgia, to protect the naval stores and munitions in that city.
Wilson’s men spent the next two days in Montgomery destroying the city’s arsenal, train depot, foundries, mills, munitions works, and railroad property, but they largely spared civilian property.
Easter Sunday Battles at Columbus and West Point
Upon leaving Montgomery, Wilson headed east into Georgia, where he split his force into two columns.
One column pursued the Montgomery troops who had moved to Columbus. On Easter Sunday, April 16, the Federals easily routed the Rebel defenders at the Battle of Columbus, taking roughly 1,500 prisoners in what historians generally consider the last major battle of the Civil War.
On the same day, Wilson’s other column captured an undermanned Fort Tyler at the Battle of West Point, making that outpost the last Confederate fort captured by the Union during the Civil War. During this battle, a federal sharpshooter mortally wounded Confederate Brigadier General Robert C. Tyler, making him the last general officer to die in the Civil War.
Confederate Surrender at Macon, Georgia
Following the Easter Sunday battles, Wilson’s two columns converged upon Macon, Georgia. As Wilson approached the city, he learned from General Howell Cobb, commanding the Confederate forces at Macon, that General Joseph Johnston had surrendered the last remaining Confederate army in the field to Major General William T. Sherman at Bennett Place, near Durham, North Carolina, on April 19, 1865. Being part of Johnston’s command, Howell surrendered Macon to Wilson on April 20. With the fighting in the East virtually over, Wilson’s Raid ended.
The Capture of Jefferson Davis
For the next few weeks, Wilson dispatched cavalry patrols to hunt down fleeing Confederate leaders. On May 10, 1865, at Irwinville, Georgia, a group of his men apprehended the former president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis.
Aftermath
Historians debate the importance and even the necessity of Wilson’s Raid. Wilson’s men inflicted considerable damage to the infrastructure of the Deep South, and they significantly reduced the dwindling Confederate fighting force by taking over 6,000 prisoners and killing or wounding over 1,000 soldiers. In hindsight, though, Lee and Johnston’s surrenders were inevitable. It is questionable whether Wilson’s Raid, successful as it was, did much to change the outcome of the war.
