CHAP, xxviii.] AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, 1861-1865. 



471 



of 



the country, the column had a sufficient supply for a 

 campaign of sixtv days.' 



They had also a light pontoon train of thirty boats, 

 transported by fifty waggons. To meet this moving 

 army, Forrest only had some 6,400 men, widely scat- 

 tered, and maintained in supplies with the greatest 

 difficulty. When Wilson did move, he moved so rapidly 

 as to strike Forrest before he could get his men con- 

 centrated, and consequently he was able to force him 

 back with little difficulty. 



Wilson's movement south commenced on the 22nd 

 March from Chickasaw, and to deceive the enemy and 

 enable the force to be more easily fed, it marched by 

 divergent roads ; Upton's division moving by Russel- 

 ville. Mount Hope, and Jasper; Long's division by 

 Cherokee Station, Frankfort, and Thornhill, to the same 

 point. McCjok's moved by Eldridge, also to Jasper. 

 From Jasper the whole command united marched by 

 Elyton to Montevallo. Here fighting began with the 

 Confederate cavalry, under Roddy and Crossland. The 

 weak force of the enemy were soon driven back to Six 

 Mile Creek, where they again made a stand, and were 

 again forced back towards Randolph. The next morning 

 some of Wilson's scouts captured a Confederate courier 

 with despatches, which laid bare before him the disposi- 

 tion of Forrest's command, and the weakness of the force 

 in front of him. He decided to press him without 

 cessation, and drive him by main force into the works 

 around the city of Selma, which was the objective point 

 of the campaign. Six miles north of Plantersville, at 

 Ebenezer Church, a desperate fight ensued. Forrest had 

 only 1,500 men, and six guns, with which to oppose a 

 force of some 9,000 of the Federals.^ 



General Long's division of the Northern Army, which 

 was in the advance, opened the action — the 72nd Indiana 

 mounted infantry, being formed up, dismounted, drove 

 back the Confedfr^^e advanced lines, and followed up 

 the success with a c,L..^<re of four troops of the 17th 

 Indiana mounted infantry, at the gallop, sword in hand. 

 ^ Andrews, 244. " I'orrest, 666. 



