March 22, 1865

Union Gen. James H. Wilson launched the largest cavalry raid of the Civil War into central Alabama with about 13,500 troops. Targeting industrial facilities such as coal mines and ironworks, Wilson’s troops faced little resistance except for 5,000 cavalry troops under the command of Gen. Nathaniel Bedford Forrest, whom they defeated twice. In less than a month’s time, Wilson captured the important industrial cities of Montevallo, Tuscaloosa, Selma and Montgomery. The raid effectively destroyed Alabama’s ability to support the waning Confederacy with military supplies, but it had almost no effect on the outcome of the war, which was determined at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, on April 9.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Maj. Gen. James H. Wilson, officer of the Federal Army, c. 1860-1865. (Brady National Photographic Art Gallery, compiled by Hirst D. Milhollen and Donald H. Mugridge, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

Nathan Bedford Forrest, general of the Confederate States of America, c. 1863-1870. (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

The ruins of the Confederate States Naval Foundry at Selma, 1865. (Alabama Department of Archives and History, Wikipedia).

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.