Wilson ' s Raid Wilson ' s Raid was a cavalry operation through Alabama and Georgia in March – April 1865 , late in the American Civil War . Brig . Gen . James H . Wilson led his Union Army Cavalry Corps to destroy Southern manufacturing facilities and was opposed unsuccessfully by a much smaller force under Confederate Lt . Gen . Nathan Bedford Forrest . Background and opposing forces . After his victory at the Battle of Nashville , Union Maj . Gen . George H . Thomas and his Army of the Cumberland found themselves with virtually no organized military opposition in the heart of the South . Thomas ordered Brig . Gen . James H . Wilson ( who commanded the Cavalry Corps of the Military Division of the Mississippi , but was attached to Thomas ' s army ) to lead a raid to destroy the arsenal at Selma , Alabama , in conjunction with Maj . Gen . Edward Canby ' s operations against Mobile . Selma was strategically important as one of the few Confederate military bases remaining in Southern hands . The town contained an arsenal , a naval foundry , gun factories , a powder mill , military warehouses , and railroad repair shops . Wilson led approximately 13 , 500 men in three divisions , commanded by Brig . Gens . Edward M . McCook , Eli Long , and Emory Upton . Each cavalryman was armed with the formidable 7 - shot Spencer repeating rifle . His principal opponent was Lt . Gen . Nathan Bedford Forrest , whose Cavalry Corps of the Department of Alabama , Mississippi , and East Louisiana consisted of about 2 , 500 troopers organized into two small divisions , led by Brig . Gens . James R . Chalmers and William H . Jackson , two partial brigades under Brig . Gen . Philip D . Roddey and Colonel Edward Crossland , and a few local militia . Raid . Wilson was delayed in crossing the rain swollen Tennessee River , but got underway on March 22 , 1865 , departing Gravelly Springs , Alabama . He sent his forces in three separate columns to mask his intentions and confuse the enemy ; Forrest learned very late in the raid that Selma was the primary target . Minor skirmishes occurred at Houston ( March 25 ) and Black Warrior River ( March 26 ) , and Wilson ' s columns rejoined at Jasper on March 27 . On March 28 , at Elyton , near present - day Birmingham , another skirmish occurred and the Union troopers destroyed the Oxmoor and Irondale iron furnaces . A detachment of General Emory Upton ' s division destroyed the Shelby Iron Works in Shelby on March 31 , 1865 . Wilson also detached a brigade under Brig . Gen . John T . Croxton and sent them south and west to burn the Roupes Valley Ironworks at Tannehill and Bibb Naval Furnace at Brierfield on March 31 . They then burned the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa , the site of a training ground for militia and Confederate troops , on April 4 . This movement diverted Chalmer ' s division away from Forrest ' s main force . On March 31 , Forrest was routed by the larger , better - armed Union force at Montevallo . The cavalrymen under Chalmers had not arrived to reinforce Forrest , but he could not wait . During the action , Forrest ' s headquarters were overrun and documents captured that gave valuable intelligence concerning his plans . Wilson dispatched McCook to link up with Croxton ' s brigade at Trion and then led the remainder of his force rapidly toward Selma . Forrest made a stand on April 1 at Plantersville , near Ebenezer Church , and was routed once again . The Confederates raced toward Selma and deployed into a three - mile , semicircular defensive line anchored at both ends by the Alabama River . The Battle of Selma took place on April 2 . The divisions of Long and Upton assaulted Forrest ' s hastily constructed works . The dismounted Union troopers broke through by afternoon , after brief periods of hand - to - hand combat ; the inexperienced militiamen abandoning their positions and fleeing was the primary reason for the entire line breaking . General Wilson personally led a mounted charge of the 4th U . S . Cavalry against an unfinished portion of the line . General Long was severely wounded in the head during the assault . Forrest , who was also wounded , and whose tiny corps was severely damaged , regrouped at Marion , where he finally rejoined with Chalmers . Wilson ' s men worked for over a week at destroying military facilities before departing for Montgomery , which they occupied on April 12 . Word reached the Union force of the surrender of Robert E . Lee on April 9 and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln on April 14 , but the raid continued , heading east into Georgia . The Battle of West Point , Georgia , was fought on Easter Sunday , April 16 , when the brigade of Colonel Oscar H . La Grange attacked an earthwork defensive position named Fort Tyler . Although the Union men had to bridge a ditch under the fire of one 32 - pound naval gun and two 12 pound cannon inside the earthwork , the undermanned Fort Tyler was captured . Confederate Brig . Gen . Robert C . Tyler , who was convalescing in West Point from previous wounds and who had mustered a small garrison of soldiers and local volunteers , was mortally wounded by a sharpshooter , becoming the last general officer to be killed in the Civil War . Tyler is buried at the West Point Confederate cemetery . Finally on Easter Sunday , April 16 , Wilson was victorious in the Battle of Columbus , Georgia in which Upton ' s division clashed with Confederate forces at Columbus , capturing the city and its naval works and burning the " cottonclad " ramming ship , CSS " Jackson " . This engagement is widely regarded as the " Last Battle of the Civil War . " On April 20 , Wilson ' s men captured Macon , Georgia without resistance , and Wilson ' s Raid came to an end . This was only six days prior to General Joseph E . Johnston ' s surrender of all Confederate troops in the Carolinas , Georgia , and Florida to William Tecumseh Sherman in North Carolina . Aftermath . Wilson ' s Raid had been a spectacular success . His men captured five fortified cities , 288 cannon , and 6 , 820 prisoners , at a cost of 725 Union casualties . Forrest ' s casualties , from a much smaller force , numbered 1 , 200 . The raid was done without the disastrous collateral damage that characterized Sherman ' s March to the Sea of the previous year . Unlike Sherman , Wilson and his commander , George H . Thomas , did not tolerate uncontrolled behavior , such as looting , from their men . Residents accused Wilson ' s men of sacking Selma after the battle , but during house - to - house fighting , fires broke out , and renegades from both armies , along with escaping slaves , did most of the looting . Wilson quickly re - established discipline .