CHAP, xxvni.] AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, 1861-1865. 473 



confasion towards the city.* Upton's division charged 

 over the stockade the same way, the men getting on each 

 other's shoulders to climb over. The place was taken, 

 Forrest escaping with his staff and a number of his men 

 by the BurnsviUe road. 



In this affair Wilson's 9,000 cavalry with 8 guns 

 captured 31 field-guns and 1 thirty-pounder Parrott, 

 2,770 prisoners including 150 officers, a number of 

 colours, and large quantities of stores of every kind. 

 Wilson remained at Selma for some days, gathering in 

 his detached parties, and energetically engaged in build- 

 ing a bridge across the Alabama river, at this point 870 

 feet wide. On the 10th he crossed his command to 

 the south bank, having first destroyed the foundries, 

 arsenals, arms, stores, and mUitaiy supplies of every 

 kind in Selma; materials of war, which had made it 

 one of the most important depots in the Southern 

 States, and its loss a most disastrous blow to the falling 

 Confederacy.^ 



Wilson had succeeded in capturing enough horses to 

 mount all the dismounted men, and replenishing his 

 supplies, and destroying his surplus waggons, and 

 taking every step to give mobility to his command, 

 he set out by way of Montgomery into Georgia, in- 

 tending to destroy what he could and join Sherman 

 in North Carolina. Montgomery was soon taken, 

 90,000 bales of cotton being burned in anticipation 

 by the Southern troops.' All the public stores were 

 here destroyed. On the 14th AVilson moved into 

 Georgia; on the 16th the fortified posts of Columbus 

 and West Point were taken ; on the 20th he entered 

 Macon, where news of the armistice reached him, and 

 hearing that Jefferson Davis was trying to make his 

 escape, he sent forces in pursuit, and succeeded in 

 capturing him on the 11th May.* 



This was one of the most remarkable cavalry opera- 

 tions of the war, for, as we have said, it was not 

 a mere raid or dash, but an invading army determined 

 to fight its way through. Its success was greatly to be 



' Andrews, 264. ^ Ibid. 258. » Ibid. 259. « Havelook, 112. 



