Before The Battle / Battle Of Girard

Before The Battle, also, Battle Of Girard. . (obverse) , Before The Battle, All day that Easter Sunday the Confederate forces commanded by Col. Leon von Zinken awaited the Union Army they knew was on the way from Tuskegee. Lacking the men needed to hold it, they were forced to leave the line they had prepared on the hills to the west and man an inner line from the mouth of Holland Creek northward through this position. Left undefended, the Dillingham Street bridge was packed with oil-soaked cotton waste and burned about 2 o’clock when the Federal vanguard attacked it. Failing in their effort the raiders withdrew behind the hills until they attacked again after dark., (reverse) , Battle Of Girard, The decisive action in the last battle of the War Between the States occurred here at the center of the Confederate defensive line. At 8 p.m. on April 16, 1865 Union forces led by Maj. Gen. James H. Wilson charged in the darkness from the hills to the west. They broke through the defense and pushed on to the wooden covered bridge across the river. The Confederates, believing they had been cut off by the Federals, made a wild dash for the bridge also. There was utter chaos as both armies, in pitch darkness, jammed the narrow structure with men, horses and wagons. In the dark, friend and foe were indistinguishable.