The Dawn of Battle

The Dawn of Battle. The Battle — 6:00 A.M.. Shortly before daylight about 6:00 A.M., the struggling Confederate column encountered Union pickets at Timmy's branch one and one half miles south of here and exchanged the first shots of the battle. Alerted by the gunfire, the Union camps (a mile behind you) began rushing reinforcements to the retreating Union pickets. The first of these reinforcements, the 10th Indiana and the 1st Kentucky cavalry, camped closest to the battlefield, arrived quickly and began forming their battle lines on the ridge behind you., Then, through the rain and foggy early morning light, the first Confederate troops, the 15th Mississippi, 20th Tennessee, and the 19th Tennessee regiments of General Zollicoffer's brigade, came over the hill in front of you in line of battle on both sides of the road and moved to attack the newly formed Union line. On the west side of the road (your right) the 19th Tennesssee engaged the Union forces. While on this side of the road, the 15th Mississippi and the 20th Tennessee filed into the ravine to your left and rear, occupying most of its length. Later during the battle they would repeatedly charge from this ravine to attack the Union line., (illustrations) , The marker includes a drawing on the right: "Sunday morning at daylight the Cavalry ran upon the enemies pickets one and one half mile out in their front. A few shots were exchanged and the enemy slowly fell back to his main line." , W.J. Worsham, 19th Tennessee Infantry, CSA, "After marching all night through a misty January rain, just as the gray dawn appeared in the East, we heard fire from the Federal pickets as they fired on our advance." , James Binford, 15th Mississippi Infantry, CSA.