Occupation of Jackson

Occupation of Jackson. The Union Army in West Tennessee. , Confederate troops evacuated Jackson on June 7, 1862, after devastating defeats at Fort Donelson and Shiloh. In the afternoon, the 78th Ohio and 30th Illinois Infantry under Union Gen. John McClernand occupied the town. The 700 Federals seized both railroad depots and the telegraph office, along with Confederate commissary and quartermaster stores. Almost immediately, Lt. Cyrus M. Roberts, 78th Ohio, raised the Stars and Stripes atop the courthouse cupola, where the flag floated over the town., The following afternoon any lingering thoughts of resistance vanished when Union Gen. John A. Logan marched into Jackson with four infantry regiments, accompanied by three brass bands. Logan, placed in command of the garrison, made his headquarters in the P.J. Murray house on North Royal Street. Gen. Richard J. Oglesby occupied the Peguese house on Main Street. The Union soldiers were spread out in camps all around Jackson, and soon there were twice as many soldiers as local residents. Jackson remained under Union control for another year., The Federals erected a cotton-bale fort in the center of town and three companies camped around it. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant stayed in Jackson from September 23 to November 23 in the McCree house. The Federal occupation ended in early June 1863 because Grant needed the troops for his advance on Vicksburg., It is of very great importance that your troops should be moved rapidly upon the new line. Pocahontas, La Grange, Moscow, and Collierville are the prominent points to be held by garrisons; the lesser stations will be outposts from these. You can patrol the road from La Grange to Jackson with your battery car so as to keep up the telegraph." - , Union Gen. Stephen A. Hurlbut to Gen. Richard J. Oglesby, Captions: , Courthouse Square, Jackson, Harper's Weekly, Oct. 11, 1862, Gen. John A. Logan , Courtesy Library of Congress, Gen. Richard J. Oglesby , Courtesy Library of Congress