Battle of Selma The Battle of Selma was a military engagement near the end of the American Civil War . It was fought in Selma , Alabama , on April 2 , 1865 . Union Army forces under Major General James H . Wilson defeated a Confederate Army force under Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest . On March 22 , 1865 , Wilson led three division s of Union cavalry , totaling 13 , 500 men , on a raid from Gravelly Springs , deep into largely untouched southern Alabama . He was opposed by Confederate General Forrest , whose soldiers numbered 2 , 000 , and many of these were old men and boys . Wilson met and defeated Forrest in a running battle on April 1 , 1865 , at Ebenezer Church , and Forrest retreated into Selma , adding his troops to the other defenders there . Continuing towards Selma , Wilson divided his command into three columns . Although Selma ' s defenses were strong , there were not enough Confederates to man them effectively . Wilson ' s columns broke through the defenses at separate points , forcing the Confederates to surrender the city . Many of the officers and men , including Forrest and Lt . Gen . Richard Taylor , escaped before the surrender . Selma demonstrated that even Forrest , who had been considered almost invincible , could not stop the overpowering unrelenting Union moves into what still remained of the Confederacy . Background to battle . On March 30 , 1865 , General Wilson detached Brig . Gen . John T . Croxton ' s brigade to destroy all Confederate property at Tuscaloosa , Alabama . After capturing a Confederate courier who carried dispatches from Forrest describing the strength and disposition of his scattered forces , Wilson sent a brigade to destroy the bridge across the Cahaba River at Centreville . This effectively cut off Forrest from reinforcement . It also began a running fight that did not end until after the fall of Selma . Forrest ' s command was scattered through Mississippi , Alabama , and Tennessee , in an effort to refit his command following the Middle Tennessee Campaign , and Forrest spent several days in late March struggling to consolidate his force before Wilson ' s cavalry could advance south . On the afternoon of April 1 , following skirmishing in the morning , Wilson ' s advanced guard ran into Forrest ' s line of battle at Ebenezer Church , where the Randolph Road intersected the main Selma road . Forrest had hoped to bring his entire force to bear on Wilson . However , because of delays caused by flooding , plus earlier contacts with the enemy , Forrest could only muster less than 2 , 000 men , many of whom were not veterans but poorly trained militia consisting of old men and young boys . The outnumbered Confederates fought bravely for over an hour , as Wilson deployed more Union cavalry and artillery on the field . Forrest himself was wounded by a saber - wielding Union captain , whom he killed with his revolver . Finally , a Union cavalry charge broke the Confederate militia , causing Forrest to be flanked on his right . He was forced to retreat under severe pressure . The battle failed to significantly delay or damage Wilson ' s force . Struggle for Selma . Early the next morning Forrest arrived at Selma , " horse and rider covered in blood . " He advised Gen . Richard Taylor , departmental commander , to leave the city . Taylor did so after giving Forrest command of the defense . Selma was protected by three miles of fortifications , which ran in a semicircle around the city . They were anchored on the north and south by the Alabama River . The works had been built two years earlier and , while neglected since then , they were still formidable . The defenses were from 8 to 12 feet high , 15 feet thick at the base , and had a ditch 4 feet wide and 5 feet deep along the front . Before this was a picket fence of heavy posts planted in the ground , 5 feet high , and sharpened at the top . At prominent positions , earthen forts were built with artillery in position to cover the ground over which an assault would have to be made . Forrest ' s defenders consisted of his Tennessee escort company , McCullough ' s Missouri Regiment , Edward Crossland ' s Kentucky Brigade , Phillip Dale Roddey ' s Alabama Brigade , Frank Armstrong ' s Mississippi Brigade , the Pointe Coupee Artillery , General Daniel W . Adams ' state reserves , and citizens of Selma who volunteered to man the defenses . The total force numbered less than 4 , 000 , barely half of whom were soldiers . Selma ' s fortifications had been designed to be defended by 20 , 000 men , and Forrest ' s outnumbered defenders had to stand 10 to 12 feet apart to cover their sectors . Wilson ' s force arrived at the Selma fortifications at 2 p . m . He placed Gen . Eli Long ' s division across the Summerfield Road , with the Chicago Board of Trade Battery in support . Maj . Gen . Emory Upton ' s division was placed across the Range Line Road with Battery I , 4th U . S . Artillery in support . Wilson had 9 , 000 well - armed and well - trained troops available to make the assault . Wilson ' s plan was for Upton to send in a 300 - man detachment after dark to cross the swamp on the Confederate right , enter the works , and begin a flanking movement toward the center moving along the line of fortifications . Then a single gun from Upton ' s artillery would fire the signal for an attack by the entire Federal Corps . At 5 p . m . , however , the ammunition train in Wilson ' s rear was attacked by advance elements of Forrest ' s scattered forces who were moving toward Selma . Long and Upton had both positioned significant numbers of the troops in their rear to guard against such an event . However , Long decided on his own to begin an assault against the Selma fortifications to neutralize the attack in his rear . Long ' s men attacked in a single rank in three main lines , dismounted and firing their 7 - shot Spencer repeating carbines . They were supported by their own artillery . The Confederates defenders replied with heavy small arms and artillery fire . In one of the many ironies of the Civil War , the Confederate artillery had only solid shot on hand , while just a short distance away was an arsenal which produced tons of canister , a highly effective anti - personnel ammunition . The attackers suffered many casualties , including General Long himself , but the attack continued . Once the Union troops reached the works , vicious hand - to - hand fighting broke out . Many on both sides were struck down with clubbed muskets . Still , Union troops kept pouring into the works . In less than 30 minutes , Long ' s men had captured the works protecting the Summerfield Road from the hopelessly outnumbered defenders . Meanwhile , General Upton , observing Long ' s success , ordered his own division forward . Soon , U . S . flags could be seen waving over the works from Range Line Road to Summerfield Road . Once the outer works had fallen , General Wilson himself led the 4th U . S . Cavalry Regiment in a mounted charge down the Range Line Road toward the unfinished inner line of works . The retreating Confederate forces , having reached the inner works , rallied and poured a devastating fire into the charging Union column . This stopped the charge , and sent General Wilson sprawling to the ground when his favorite horse was wounded . Wilson quickly remounted his injured horse and ordered a dismounted assault by several regiments . Mixed units of Confederate troops at the Selma railroad depot and the adjoining banks of the railroad bed tried to make a stand next to the Plantersville Road ( present day Broad Street ) . Fighting there was heavy , but by 7 p . m . the superior numbers of Union troops had allowed them to flank the Southern positions , causing the defenders to abandon the depot as well as the inner line of works . Aftermath . Union troops rounded up hundreds of prisoners , but hundreds more escaped in the darkness down the Burnsville Road . These included Generals Forrest , Armstrong , and Roddey . To the west , many Confederate soldiers continued to fight the pursuing Union soldiers all the way to the eastern side of Valley Creek . They then escaped in the darkness by swimming the Alabama River near the mouth of Valley Creek ( where the present day Battle of Selma Reenactment is held . ) During his escape from the city , Forrest killed another Union trooper , the thirtieth he killed in personal combat in the war . Wilson lost 359 men in the battle , while Forrest lost over 2 , 700 casualties , mostly prisoners and 32 artillery pieces . Jubilant Union troops looted the city that night , and many businesses and private residences were burned . Wilson ' s men spent the next week destroying the arsenal and naval foundry . Finally , they left Selma and moved on to Montgomery and fought the Battle of Columbus , Georgia on Easter Sunday , and finally marched to Macon , Georgia , when they learned of the war ' s end . On May 10 , they captured Jefferson Davis in Irwinsville , Georgia .