Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-08-23

body of the Federals drawn up in |
line of battle at OkalOna, a town |
situated in an open prairie. Up to |
this time he had with him only his |
first division, not exceeding two
thousand men. Before him, in an
open prairie, where all the move
ments of each side could be seen,
was SOOy Smith, with seven thou
sand picked Federal cavalry, Sc
lected especially, it is said, to crush
the Confederate leader. If SOoy
Smith had fallen back from his
7 dangerous position at West Point to
draw Forrest from a junction with
Lee, he had acted with wisdom and
skill and now the lOng-lOOked for
opportunity seemed to have arrived,
when, with a superior force OF well
drilled and splendidly armed cav
airy, in an open prairie peculiarly
fitted for cavalry operations, the
cherished object of General Sherman
could be accomplished. A less i'm
DetuOus man than Forrest might
have paused before such "A situation;
hut he never hesitated a moment.
His two brigade5 of the first division
had been ordered forward on two
different roads, cOnverging at Okla
Iona, and on they came at run;
and at this moment Bells brigade,
which h1d been watching the flank
of the enemy, came in from an
opposite direction. Forrest, putting
himself at the head of one regiment
of this brigade, mounted, made his
favOrite flank attack, while his three
brigades, quickly dismOunted, at
tucked in front; and, after short
fight, the enemy, as if paralyzed
with fear, fled almost without a
struggle, leaving a small battery OF
artillery and about thirty killed and
wounded. SOOy Smith, in his re-
port. accounts for his defeat thus:
."After the Fourth regulars had
driven one entire Rebel brigade out
of town three times, a portion Of
McCrillis' brigade, sent to the sup
port of the Fourth, stampeded at
the yeIls of our own men charging,
and gallOped back through and over
everything, spreading confusion
wherever they went and driving
Perkins battery of six small noun
tain hOWitZers off the road into a
ditch" Forrest pursued with his
accustomed Vigor; and twice after
this the enemy seemed to have re-
gained their courage, and making
bold stands, fought for time with
stubbornness and skill. In their
first stand Colonel jeff. Forrest was
killed, and in the last, which oc-
Cured about shutdown, General
Forrest and three hundred men,
some distance in advance of his
main body, was repulsed, and only
escaped capture by taking shelter,
dismounted, in a ravine, which he
held by hard fighting, until rescued
by gallant old Bob McCulloch, Col
OneI of the Second Missouri cavalry,
who never failed to come when
needed, but never received the pro-
motion he deserved.
SHERNIAN'S MARCH TO MERIDIAN.
General Sherman, in the mean
time, had marched to Meridian, and
SAYS: ave staid in Meridian five
DAYS, expecting every hour to hear
of General Sooy Smith, but could
get no tidings of him whatever"
AS this was an important move
ment. and as its main object was, as
we believe, defeated by Forrest, we
must pause to consider the situation
at llAdl llAllts NNNlANA clA eDAlCA man "a
presses it in these words: "The
Rebels still maintained a eonsidera-
BILE force of infantry and cavalry i'll
the State of Mississippi, threatening
the river, whose navigation had
become to us so delicate and i'm
pOrtant a matter. Satisfied that 1
could check this by one or two quick
moves inland, and thereby set free
a considerable body of men held as
local garrisOns, went up to Nash
willie and represented the case to
General Grant" General Sherman
further saws: "a chief part of the
enterprise was to destroy the Rebel
cavalry commanded by General
Forrest, who were a constant threat
to our railway communications IN
Middle Tennessee, and / committed
this task to Brigadier-General W.
Sooy Smith. General Hubert had
i'm his command about seven thou
sand five hundred cavalry, scattered
from Columbus, KY, to COrinth,
Miss, and we proposed to make up
an aggregate cavalry force of about
seven thousand effective out of
these and the twenty-five hundred
which General Smith had brought
with him from Middle Tennessee.
With this force General Smith was
ordered to move from Memphis,
straight for Meridian, Miss, and to
start by February LIST. | explained
to him personally the nature of
Forrest as a man and of his peculiar
force told him that in his route he
was sure to encounter Forrest, who
always attacked with Vehemence
for which he must be prepared, and
that after he had Iepelled the first
attack, he must in turn assume the
most determined offensive, over
whelm and utterly destroy his whole
force. | knew that Forrest could
not have more than four thousand
cavalry, and my own movement
would give employment to every
other man of the Rebel army not
Immediately present with him, so
that he General Smith) might act
on the hypothesis / have stated"
Again, referring to the same subject,
General Sherman, in his Memoirs,
saws: 1.-The object of the Meridian
expedition was to strike the roads
inland, so to paralyze the Rebel
forces that we could take from the
defence of the Mississippi river the
equivalent of corps of twenty
thousand men, to be used in the
next Georgia campaign, and this
was actually done. At the same
time, | wanted to destroy General
Forrest, who, with an irregular
force of cavalry, was constantly
threatening Memphis and the river
above, rs well as our routes Ofsupply
in Middle Tennessee. In this we
utterly failed, because General w.
SOoy Smith did not fulfill his orders,
which were clear and specific, as
contained in my letter of instruction
to him of January 9th, at Mem
phis, and my personal explanations
to him at the same time" As this
letter is very important in this con-
nection, and has never been pub
IiShed, | give it in full:
HEADS DEPT OF THE TENNESSEE,
MEMPHIS, July 9th, 1864.
Brigadter-Cfeneral William SOOy Smith,
Commanding Cavalry Nc.:
Dear Generally an order issued this day,
have placed all the cavalry Of this depart
Iuent subject To your command. l estimate
men. which / believe to be superior and
better in all respects than the combined
cavalry which the enemy has in all the
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