069-640610-[H]Brice's Cross Roads-30 - WDS Forgotten Campaigns

(Historical 30 minute turns) In the summer of 1864, W.T. Sherman is leading a campaign to capture the City of Atlanta. To supply the Union armies, Sherman must depend on a 500 mile long supply line, mostly railroads, that snake north all the way to the Ohio River. He is confronted by the Army of Tennessee, under General Joe Johnston, but one of his greatest concerns is the vulnerability of his supply line, and the Confederates have just the man to exploit the vulnerability: Maj Gen Nathan B. Foirrest, AKA the "Wizard of the Saddle," but referred to by Sherman as "That Devil Forrest." An expedition is outfitted in Memphis under Br Gen Samuel Sturgis, and sent into the hinterlands of Mississippi to kill or capture Forrest. Sturgis has a division each of cavalry and infantry, substantially outnumbering Forrest, but Forrest does not hesitate. He collects his scattered forces and plots a collision course to stop the Yankee invasion. It is June 10th, a dreadfully hot day in the piney woods of Mississippi. Union cavalry presses on in search of an enemy who is only too glad to be found, leaving the infantry division to catch up. Reference: "The Battle of Brice's Crossroads" by Stewart L. Bennett