| Page 36 | (Johnsonville) |  |  |
Johnsonville
November 4-5, 1864
Benton County, TN
Campaign:
Franklin-Nashville Campaign (1864)
Col. C.R. Thompson, USA and Lt. Cdr. Edward M. King, USN
Maj. Gen. Nathan
Bedford Forrest, CSA
The Union garrison was around 4,000 men, while Forrest had many fewer.
Casualties are unknown.
In an effort to check the Union army�s advance through Georgia, Maj. Gen.
Nathan Bedford Forrest led a 23-day raid culminating in an attack on the Yankee
supply base at Johnsonville, Tennessee. Swinging north from Corinth,
Mississippi, toward the Kentucky border and temporarily blockading the Tennessee
River at Fort Herman, Forrest then moved southward along the Tennessee River�s
west bank, capturing several U.S. steamers and a gunboat which he later had to
abandon. On November 4, Forrest began positioning his artillery across the river
from the Federal supply base and landing at Johnsonville. The Union discovered
the Confederates finishing their entrenchments and battery emplacements in the
afternoon of the 4th. The Union gunboats and land batteries, across the river,
engaged the Confederates in an artillery duel. The Rebel guns, however, were so
well-positioned, the Federals were unable to hinder them. In fact, Confederate
artillery fire disabled the gunboats. Fearing that the Rebels might cross the
river and capture the transports, the Federals set fire to them. The wind then
extended the fire to the piles of stores on the levee and to a warehouse loaded
with supplies. Seeing the fire, the Confederates began firing on the steamboats,
barges, and warehouses to prevent the Federals from putting out the fire. An
inferno illuminated Forrest�s night withdrawal, and he escaped Union clutches
without serious loss. Damages totaled $2.2 million. The next morning, on the
5th, some Confederate artillery bombarded the depot in the morning but then
left. Although this brilliant victory further strengthened Forrest�s reputation
and destroyed a great amount of Union materiel, it failed to stem the tide of
Union success in Georgia. By this time, Forrest often harassed the Union Army,
but, as this engagement demonstrated, he could not stop their operations.
| Page 36 | (Johnsonville) | | |
|
