Battle of Jackson, Tennessee

| Battle of Jackson, Tennessee

| Began:|

December 19, 1862

|

| Ended:|

Same day

|

| Location:|

Madison County, Tennessee

|

| Theater:|

Western Theater

|

| Campaign:|

Forrest’s Expedition into West Tennessee

|

| Outcome:|

Confederate victory

|

Combatants

Jackson Garrison

Detachment of Forrest’s Cavalry

Commanders

Adolph Englemann
Colonel, USA

Nathan Bedford Forrest
Brigadier General, CSA

Strength

Two regiments

| |

400

|

Casualties

Unknown

The engagement at Jackson occurred during Brig. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest’s Expedition into West Tennessee, between December 11, 1862, and January 1, 1863. Forrest wished to interrupt the rail supply line to Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s army, campaigning down the Mississippi Central Railroad. If he could destroy the Mobile & Ohio Railroad running south from Columbus, Kentucky, through Jackson, Grant would have to curtail or halt his operations. Forrest’s 2,100-man cavalry brigade crossed the Tennessee River on December 15–17, heading west. Maj. Gen. Grant ordered a troop concentration at Jackson under Brig. Gen. Jeremiah C. Sullivan and sent a cavalry force out under Col. Robert G. Ingersoll, to confront Forrest. Forrest, however, smashed the Union cavalry at Lexington on December 18. As Forrest continued his advance the next day, Sullivan ordered Col. Adolph Englemann to take a small force northeast of Jackson. At Old Salem Cemetery, acting on the defensive, Englemann’s two infantry regiments repulsed a Confederate mounted attack and then withdrew a mile closer to town. To Forrest, the fight amounted to no more than a feint and show of force intended to hold Jackson’s Union defenders in place while two mounted columns destroyed railroad track north and south of the town and returned. This accomplished, Forrest withdrew from the Jackson area to attack Trenton and Humboldt. Thus, although the Federals had checked a demonstration by a portion of Forrest’s force, a major accomplishment, other Confederates had fulfilled an element of the expedition’s mission. (NPS summary)

v • d • e

Brigadier General Nathan Bedford Forrest's Expedition into West Tennessee, December 1862-January 1863

Jackson, TN \-- Parker's Cross Roads

v • d • e

Battles of the American Civil War: 1862

Eastern Theater|

Cockpit Point \-- Hancock \-- Roanoke Island \-- Elizabeth City \-- New Bern \-- Fort Macon \-- 1st Kernstown \-- Hampton Roads \-- Yorktown \-- South Mills \-- Williamsburg \-- Eltham's Landing \-- McDowell \-- Princeton Court House \-- Drewry’s Bluff \-- Front Royal \-- 1st Winchester \-- Hanover Court House \-- Seven Pines \-- Tranter's Creek \-- Cross Keys \-- Port Republic \-- Oak Grove \-- Beaver Dam Creek \-- Gaines' Mill \-- Garnett's and Golding's Farms \-- Savage's Station \-- Glendale \-- White Oak Swamp \-- Malvern Hill \-- Cedar Mountain \-- 1st Rappahannock Station \-- Manassas Station Operations \-- Thoroughfare Gap \-- 2nd Bull Run \-- Chantilly \-- Harpers Ferry \-- South Mountain \-- Antietam \-- Shepherdstown \-- Fredericksburg \-- Kinston \-- White Hall \-- Goldsborough Bridge

Western Theater|

Middle Creek \-- Mill Springs \-- Fort Henry \-- Fort Donelson \-- Island Number Ten \-- 1st Memphis \-- Shiloh \-- Siege of Corinth \-- 1st Chattanooga \-- 1st Murfreesboro \-- Richmond, KY \-- Munfordville \-- Iuka \-- Corinth \-- Hatchie's Bridge \-- Perryville \-- Hartsville \-- Jackson, TN \-- Chickasaw Bayou \-- Parker's Cross Roads \-- Stones River

Trans-Mississippi Theater|

Roan's Tan Yard \-- Valverde \-- Pea Ridge \-- Glorieta Pass \-- Stanwix Station \-- Albuquerque \-- Peralta \-- Picacho Pass \-- Dragoon Springs \-- Saint Charles \-- Cotton Plant \-- Apache Pass \-- Moore’s Mill \-- Kirksville \-- Compton's Ferry \-- 1st Independence, MO \-- 1st Sabine Pass \-- 1st Galveston \-- Lone Jack \-- 1st Newtonia \-- Old Fort Wayne \-- Island Mound \-- Clark's Mill \-- Cane Hill \-- Prairie Grove

Lower Seaboard Theater|

Fort Pulaski \-- Forts Jackson and St. Philip \-- New Orleans \-- Secessionville \-- Simmon's Bluff \-- Tampa \-- Baton Rouge \-- 1st Donaldsonville \-- Saint John's Bluff \-- Georgia Landing