Battle Selma

Sun, 2 Apr 1865 12:21:11 -0500

The Battle of Selma was a military engagement near the end of the American Civil War. It was fought in Selma, Alabama, on April 2, 1865. Union Army forces under Major General James H. Wilson defeated a smaller Confederate Army force under Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest.
On March 22, 1865, Wilson led three divisions of Union cavalry, totalling 13,500 men, on a raid from Gravelly Springs, deep into largely untouched southern Alabama. He was opposed by Confederate General Forrest, whose soldiers numbered only 2,000, and half of these were old men and boys. Wilson met and defeated Forrest in a running battle on April 1, 1865, at Ebenezer Church. Continuing towards Selma, Wilson divided his command into three columns. Although Selma's defenses were strong, there were not enough Confederates to man them effectively. Wilson's columns broke through the defenses at separate points, forcing the Confederates to surrender the city. Many of the officers and men, including Forrest and Lt. Gen. Richard Taylor, escaped before the surrender. Selma demonstrated that even Forrest, who had been considered almost invincible, could not stop the overpowering unrelenting Union moves into what still remained of the Confederacy.

Battle of Selma. (2011, February 5). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16:53, March 31, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battle_of_Selma&oldid=412197027

Battle of Mobile Bay

Fri, 5 Aug 1864 16:52:02 -0500

The Battle of Mobile Bay of August 5, 1864, was an engagement of the American Civil War in which a Federal fleet commanded by Rear Adm. David G. Farragut, assisted by a contingent of soldiers, attacked a smaller Confederate fleet led by Adm. Franklin Buchanan and three forts that guarded the entrance to Mobile Bay.
The battle was marked by Farragut's seemingly rash but successful run through a minefield that had just claimed one of his ironclad monitors, enabling his fleet to get beyond the range of the shore-based guns. This was followed by a reduction of the Confederate fleet to a single vessel, ironclad CSS Tennessee. Tennessee did not then retire, but engaged the entire Northern fleet. The armor on Tennessee gave her an advantage that enabled her to inflict more injury than she received, but she could not overcome the imbalance in numbers.

Alabama Civil War Videos

Battle Selma

Battle of Mobile Bay