A Dogged Defense

A Dogged Defense. . , A Successful Raid , Most historians consider Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest's West Tennessee Raid a success, and he gets much credit for his actions at Parker's Crossroads. Confederate General Earl Van Dorn's destruction of General Ulysses Grant's supply depot at Holly Springs, Mississippi, and Forrest's destruction of the railroad network in West Tennessee canceled Union plans for a Vicksburg offensive. The Confederacy had checked Grant, but what of the Union fight at Parker's Crossroads?, "The roar of battle was tremendous" , Forrest wanted to dispatch Colonel Cyrus Dunham's brigade, and if necessary, turn and fight the pursuing brigade. Forrest led with his artillery to save his men. Dunham, who had received much criticism for surrendering his command in September at Munfordville, Kentucky, was determined to hold at all costs. Forrest outnumbered Dunham in men, and his artillery roughed up the Midwestern brigade. Yet, the Union soldiers repulsed the Confederate assault on their rear and held the fence, though the effort divided Dunham's command in half. Forrest, convinced of victory, sent in a flag of truce demanding surrender, which Dunham rejected twice without hesitation. , "We have seen hard service" , What would have happened in Colonel John W. Fuller's Ohio Brigade had not arrived when it did will never be known. Forrest was fighting time as well as the Federal soldiers. The Confederates had forced Dunham's brigade from one position to another all day, yet still they held on., "We have seen hard service," Lieut. Colonel Samuel Wells of the 50th Indiana wrote his daughter a few days later. Indeed they had. The raw, outnumbered and outgunned Union force fought tenaciously against Forrest's veterans.