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Fire in the Sky
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| 21 1/4 " x 21 1/4 " |
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| 450 Signed and Numbered |
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| Call for availability |
(click image to see larger)
plans were in action. His goals were to send part of his force
south to follow the railroad lines into central Mississippi to
capture the state capital at Jackson and to send a column of troops
under the command of General Sherman to take Vicksburg. Grant also
deployed gun boats on the Tennessee River with plans to use their
power at Vicksburg.
There was another power in Tennessee that Grant had not
yet learned to respect, however, and that was General Nathan Bedford
Forrest and his cavalry. Forrest’s assignment was to cause so much
havoc and damage to Grant’s lines that the Federal Army’s offensive
would be stopped, and Grant would not be able to re-enforce
Murfreesboro or move on Vicksburg. For 15 days in the latter part
of a sleeting and snowy December, Forrest and his cavalry raided
west Tennessee. Forrest with his cavalry of about 2000 men,
supported by 6 pieces of artillery, raised terror throughout the
countryside. He spread rumors that his army was far greater that it
actually was. Forrest fought a major battle at Parker’s Crossroads
lasting 5 hours from which he escaped after being surrounded. He won
two major engagements and skirmished several times a day with
Federal troops. When his men were not fighting, they burned and
destroyed every railroad trestle, culvert crossing, and wagon bridge
across the countryside. Any supplies that were not hauled away were
destroyed and depots were burned by Forrest’s men. All Grant’s
supply routes and lines of communication were cut.
Just as the fires of the burning bridges destroyed General
Grant’s communication and supply lines, so up in smoke went Grant’s
hopes of capturing Vicksburg and Jackson, forcing his retreat to
safer confines away from Forrest country. He now would have greater
respect for the “Wizard of the Saddle”.
