page_title: Battle of Columbus (1865)
section_title: Events leading to the battle
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Columbus (1865) / Events leading to the battle
caption_attribution_description: Portrait of Maj. Gen. (as of May 6, 1865) James H. Wilson, officer of the Federal Army
context_page_description: The Battle of Columbus, Georgia, was the last conflict in the Union campaign through Alabama and Georgia, known as Wilson's Raid, in the final phase of the American Civil War.
  Maj. Gen. James H. Wilson had been ordered to destroy the city of Columbus as a major Confederate manufacturing center. He exploited enemy confusion when troops from both sides crowded on to the same bridge in the dark, and the garrison withheld its cannon fire. Next morning, Wilson laid waste to the city and took many prisoners.
  Several authorities claim Columbus should be classified as the last battle of the Civil War, while others point to a battle which occurred after the Confederacy was vanquished, the Battle of Palmito Ranch. The Battle of Columbus is also known as the Battle of Girard, Alabama.
context_section_description: After the Union victory in the Battle of Nashville (December 15–16, 1864), Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas ordered Maj. Gen. James H. Wilson to march into the heart of the Deep South and destroy the major Confederate supply centers at Selma, Alabama, and Columbus, Georgia.
  Wilson left Gravelly Springs, Alabama, on March 22, 1865, heading for Selma, a major manufacturing and supply center. The Battle of Selma was fought on April 2, 1865, against the highly skilled leadership of Lt. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, whose men were hopelessly outnumbered by the Union troops. The battle took place on the same day the Confederate capital of Richmond fell to the Army of the Potomac. Forrest managed to inflict heavy casualties on the attackers, but Wilson's raiders finally broke through the defenses and captured Selma by 7 p.m. that evening. Wilson's men destroyed all the military supplies and looted the city before moving on.
  On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House. Confederate General Joe Johnston's army was still intact, as were the armies in Alabama and Mississippi and in the Trans-Mississippi theater. Also, because of the lack of communications, General Wilson was not aware of Lee's surrender. He continued his raids. 
  On April 12, 1865, Wilson's men marched into the former Confederate capital of Montgomery, Alabama, encountering token resistance from the Confederates.
  Wilson's next target was the manufacturing city of Columbus, Georgia, the largest-surviving supply city in the South. Columbus was second only to Richmond in providing the industrial support for the war, and Richmond had been taken. Columbus was located on the Chattahoochee River, where there was a major naval construction facility. A new ironclad, the CSS Muscogee, had been completed, and was docked at Columbus waiting to be completed.
  Abraham Lincoln was fatally shot in Washington on Good Friday, April 14, and he died the next day, but Wilson had not yet learned of this.
caption: Union General James H. Wilson led the attack on Columbus.
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