The Campaign Turns East

The Campaign Turns East. . By late afternoon, as Brig. Gen. John Gregg, his officers, and soldiers realized they were seriously outnumbered they managed to extricate themselves from the fight and withdraw through Raymond to Jackson. , , From here you can see the road that follows the historic route west (left) to Dillon’s plantation, seven miles away. There, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman were camped and heard the sounds of battle coming from Raymond. When the reports came in, Grant realized he was between two Confederate armies and immediately determined to attack Jackson before advancing on Vicksburg. , , “Pretty soon we found the Rebs in front of us were edging off a bit. The firing kep up but the smoke did not puff into our mouths so much .... , The Johnnies were farther away. Then, there was nobody left to shoot and our fire stopped .... We had been at work on those Texans near two and half hours ....” , Lt. Henry Dwight, 20th Ohio, USA , , “I took the roll-book from the pocket of our dead sergeant, and found that while we had gone in with thirty-two men, we came out with but sixteen – one-half of the brave little band, but a few hours before so full of hope and patriotism, either killed or wounded.” , Sgt. Osborn Oldroyd, 20th Ohio, USA , , “... The day was unusually hot, and the roads so dusty that we couldn’t see our file leader on the double-quick. And to make our misery complete, we had no time to drink the cool water which the ladies of Raymond had brought to the doors and the sidewalks, though we were parching with thirst.” , Pvt. W.J. Davidson, 41st Tennessee, CSA , , “Our whole force then fell back to Raymond and immediately commenced their retreat. ... We lay down in an open field and in a few minutes forgot all our losses and disasters. Dr. Bowers remained at Raymond with the wounded.” , Capt. Flavel C. Barber, 3rd Tennessee , , (Lower Photo Caption) , This plaque on the monument at the Raymond courthouse memorializes the assistance local citizens provided the wounded of both armies after the battle.