 grierson's raid was a union cavalry raid during the vicksburg campaign of the american civil war. it ran from april 17 to may 2, 1863, as a diversion from maj. gen. ulysses s. grant's main attack plan on vicksburg, mississippi. ==background== thumb|left|300px|operations against vicksburg, including grierson's raid.    early in 1863, major general charles hamilton, the commander of the corinth section of grant's division, suggested what would eventually become grierson's raid. subsequently, due to hamilton's insistence on procuring a command that would garner him more glory, hamilton offered his resignation. grant quickly accepted. up until this time in the war, confederate cavalry commanders such as nathan bedford forrest, john hunt morgan, and j.e.b. stuart had ridden circles around the union (literally, in stuart's case; see the peninsula campaign), and it was time to out-do the confederates in cavalry expeditions. the task fell to col. benjamin grierson, a former music teacher who, oddly, hated horses after being kicked in the head by one as a child. grierson's cavalry brigade consisted of the 6th and 7th illinois and 2nd iowa cavalry regiments. ==the raid== grierson and his 1,700 horse troopers, some in confederate uniforms serving as scouts for the main force, rode over six hundred miles through hostile territory (from southern tennessee, through the state of [[miss
1863_in_the_United_States Cavalry_raids_of_the_American_Civil_War Vicksburg_Campaign