Battle of Coffeeville

Battle of Coffeeville Monument, Mobile National Cemetery, Mobile, Alabama

Date	December 5, 1862 (1862-12-05)
Location	Near Coffeeville, Yalobusha County, Mississippi.
Result	Confederate victory

Belligerents

United States

Confederate States

Commanders and leaders

T. Lyle Dickey

Mansfield Lovell

Lloyd Tilghman

Units involved

Cavalry, Army of the Tennessee

1st Corps, Army of West Tennessee

Strength

1,500-3,500
2 artillery pieces

1,300-2,500
6 artillery pieces

Casualties and losses

10-34 killed
54-234 wounded
43 captured

7 killed
43 wounded
10 missing

The Battle of Coffeeville, fought December 5, 1862, was a military engagement of the American Civil War.

By November 1862, Northern Mississippi was securely in the hands of the Union army after key, yet costly, wins at Shiloh, Iuka, and Corinth. General Ulysses S. Grant began the Mississippi Central Railroad Campaign, an overland push (following the main rail line through the heart of Mississippi, capturing the towns and rail along the way) into Mississippi with the goal of capturing Vicksburg in conjunction with General William Tecumseh Sherman, who would follow the river route South.

After being defeated at the Battle of Corinth, Major General Earl Van Dorn's Confederate Army of West Tennessee was on the retreat. At the battle of Hatchie's Bridge, Van Dorn successfully evaded the army's capture by the Union. The Confederate army kept falling back through Oxford and then Coffeeville, constantly skirmishing with pursuing Union cavalry, who were ahead of Grant's column.

Cavalry, Army of the Tennessee – Col Theophilus Lyle Dickey

1st Corps, Army of West Tennessee – MG Mansfield Lovell

1st Division
BG Lloyd Tilghman

BG William Edwin Baldwin

...
Wikipedia