Battle of Johnsonville

Part of the American Civil War

Date	November 4, 1864 (1864-11-04) – November 5, 1864 (1864-11-05)
Location	Benton County / Humphreys County, near Johnsonville, Tennessee
Result	Confederate victory

Belligerents

United States (Union)

CSA (Confederacy)

Commanders and leaders

Charles R. Thompson
Edward M. King

Nathan Bedford Forrest

Units involved

Johnsonville garrison

Forrest's Cavalry Division

Strength

4,000
3 gunboats

Casualties and losses

150 captured

2 killed
9 wounded

The Battle of Johnsonville was fought November 4–5, 1864, in Benton County, Tennessee and Humphreys County, Tennessee, during the American Civil War. Confederate cavalry commander Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest culminated a 23-day raid through western Tennessee by attacking the Union supply base at Johnsonville. Forrest's attack destroyed numerous boats in the Tennessee River and millions of dollars of supplies, disrupting the logistical operations of Union Major General George H. Thomas in Nashville. As a result, Thomas's army was hampered in its (eventually successful) plan to defeat Confederate Lieutenant General John Bell Hood's invasion of Tennessee, the Franklin-Nashville Campaign.

One of the critical routes used to supply the Federal forces in Tennessee was the Tennessee River, supplies were offloaded at Johnsonville, and then shipped by rail to Nashville. In the fall of 1864, the supplies were principally meant for the Army of the Cumberland, commanded by Thomas. Meanwhile, Hood's army was marching through northern Alabama on its way to an invasion of Tennessee. In late September 1864, Hood's army departed northwest from the vicinity of Atlanta, Georgia hoping its destruction of Union supply lines would lure Major General William T. Sherman's Union army into battle. Sherman pursued Hood as far as Gaylesville, Alabama, but decided to return his army to Atlanta and conduct instead a March to the Sea through Georgia. He gave responsibility for the defense of Tennessee to Thomas.

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Wikipedia