Battle of Johnsonville The Battle of Johnsonville was fought November 4 – 5 , 1864 , in Benton County , Tennessee and Humphreys County , Tennessee , during the American Civil War . Confederate cavalry commander Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest culminated a 23 - day raid through western Tennessee by attacking the Union supply base at Johnsonville . Forrest ' s attack destroyed numerous boats in the Tennessee River and millions of dollars of supplies , disrupting the logistical operations of Union Major General George H . Thomas in Nashville . As a result , Thomas ' s army was hampered in its ( eventually successful ) plan to defeat Confederate Lieutenant General John Bell Hood ' s invasion of Tennessee , the Franklin - Nashville Campaign . Background . One of the critical routes used to supply the Federal forces in Tennessee was the Tennessee River , supplies were offloaded at Johnsonville , and then shipped by rail to Nashville . In the fall of 1864 , the supplies were principally meant for the Army of the Cumberland , commanded by Thomas . Meanwhile , Hood ' s army was marching through northern Alabama on its way to an invasion of Tennessee . In late September 1864 , Hood ' s army departed northwest from the vicinity of Atlanta , Georgia hoping its destruction of Union supply lines would lure Major General William T . Sherman ' s Union army into battle . Sherman pursued Hood as far as Gaylesville , Alabama , but decided to return his army to Atlanta and conduct instead a March to the Sea through Georgia . He gave responsibility for the defense of Tennessee to Thomas . Lieutenant General Richard Taylor ordered Forrest on a wide - ranging cavalry raid through Western Tennessee to destroy the Union supply line to Nashville . Forest ' s initial objective was Fort Heiman on the Tennessee River north of Johnsonville , possession of which would prevent Union transports from reaching Johnsonville , upriver . The first of Forrest ' s men began to ride on October 16 , 1864 . They were exhausted from a previous raid and Forrest gave them orders to disperse , obtain new mounts and supplies , and return to the raid . Forrest himself began moving north on October 24 and reached Fort Heiman on October 28 , where he emplaced artillery . On October 29 and October 30 , his artillery fire caused the capture of the steamers " Mazeppa " , " Anna " , and " Venus " , as well as the gunboat " Undine " . At this point , the Union stopped river supply traffic to Johnsonville . Forrest repaired two of the boats , " Undine " and " Venus " , to use as a small flotilla to aid in his attack on Johnsonville . The boats and his cavalrymen departed on November 1 , 1864 , while the land component of his expedition encountered difficult road conditions following recent rains . On November 2 , Forrest ' s flotilla was challenged by two Union gunboats , " Key West " and " Tawah " , and " Venus " was run aground and captured . The Federals dispatched six more gunboats from Paducah , Kentucky , and on November 3 they engaged in artillery duels with strong Confederate positions on either end of Reynoldsburg Island , near Johnsonville . The Federal fleet had difficulty attempting to subdue these positions and were occupied as Forrest prepared his force for the attack on Johnsonville . Battle . On the evening of November 3 , 1864 , Forrest ' s artillerist , Capt . John Morton , positioned his guns across the river from the Federal supply base at Johnsonville . On the morning of November 4 , " Undine " and the Confederate batteries were attacked by three Union gunboats from Johnsonville under U . S . Navy Lt . Edward M . King and by the six Paducah gunboats under Lt . Cmdr . LeRoy Fitch . Capt . Frank M . Gracey ( a former steamboat captain now serving as a Confederate cavalryman ) abandoned " Undine " , setting her on fire , which caused her ammunition magazine to explode , ending Forrest ' s brief career as a naval commander . Despite this loss , the Confederate land artillery was completely effective in neutralizing the threat of the Federal fleets . Fitch was reluctant to take his Paducah gunboats through the narrow channel between Reynoldsburg Island and the western bank , so limited himself to long - range fire . King withered under the Confederate fire , which hit one of his vessels 19 times , and returned to Johnsonville . Capt . Morton ' s guns bombarded the Union supply depot and the 28 steamboats and barges positioned at the wharf . All three of the Union gunboats — " Key West " , " Tawah " , and " Elfin " — were disabled or destroyed . The Union garrison commander ordered that the supply vessels be burned to prevent their capture by the Confederates . Forrest observed , " By night the wharf for nearly one mile up and down the river presented one solid sheet of flame . . . . Having completed the work designed for the expedition , I moved my command six miles during the night by the light of the enemy ' s burning property . " Aftermath . Forrest caused enormous damage at very low cost . He reported only 2 men killed and 9 wounded . He described the Union losses as 4 gunboats , 14 transports , 20 barges , 26 pieces of artillery , $ 6 , 700 , 000 worth of property , and 150 prisoners . One Union officer described the monetary loss as about $ 2 , 200 , 000 . An additional consequence of the raid was that the Union high command became increasingly nervous about Sherman ' s plan to move through Georgia instead of confronting Hood and Forrest directly . Forrest ' s command , delayed by heavy rains , proceeded to Perryville , Tennessee , and eventually reached Corinth , Mississippi , on November 10 , 1864 . During the raid , on November 3 , Confederate theater commander Gen . P . G . T . Beauregard designated Forrest ' s cavalry for assignment to Hood ' s Army of Tennessee for the Franklin - Nashville Campaign . Hood elected to delay his advance from Tuscumbia , Alabama , north into Tennessee , until Forrest was able to link up with him there on November 16 . Legacy . The Battle of Johnsonville is now the focus of two Tennessee state parks : Nathan Bedford Forrest State Park , which is situated on the Benton County side of the river , and Johnsonville State Historic Park , which is situated on the Humphreys County side .