Battle of Munford | |||||||
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Part of the American Civil War | |||||||
Munford and vicinity (USGS map 1900) | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
United States (Union) | CSA (Confederacy) | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Brig. Gen. John T. Croxton | Brig. Gen. Benjamin J. Hill | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
Croxton's Brigade [1] 2nd Michigan Cavalry 4th Kentucky Mtd. Infantry 6th Kentucky Cavalry 8th Iowa Cavalry | Hill's Brigade [2] [3] Lowe's Alabama Cavalry [4] Hays' Tennessee Cavalry [5] One section of artillery [6] | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
1,500 [7] | 500 [8] [9] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Total: 26 Killed: 4 Wounded: 15 [10] Captured or Missing: 7 | Total: 15 Killed: 1 Wounded: unknown Captured: 14 [11] | ||||||
The 2nd Michigan Cavalry (the advance regiment of the brigade) lost two men killed, five missing and two captured in the charge through Munford. [12] In rearguard actions, the 8th Iowa Cavalry lost two men killed. [13] |
The Battle of Munford took place in Munford, Alabama, on Sunday, April 23, 1865, during the raid through the state by 1,500 Union Army cavalrymen under General John T. Croxton, part of the force participating in Wilson's Raid. The Battle of Munford and a minor action at Hendersonville, North Carolina on the same day were the last battles of the American Civil War east of the Mississippi River.
The Confederate soldiers in the battle were described as convalescents, home guards, and pardoned deserters, while the Union cavalry was a veteran force armed with 7-shot Spencer repeating carbines. The Confederates were commanded by General Benjamin Jefferson Hill. Lieutenant Lewis E. Parsons had two cannons which fired several rounds before they were overrun. The Union troops won the brief battle. Parsons was appointed provisional governor of Alabama in June after the war's end.
The Union and Confederate soldiers killed that day are described by author Rex Miller as the last to die in open combat by contending military forces. [14]
THE LAST BATTLE.
Numerous battles have been written up as "the last fight of the rebellion." Without disputing in regard to the matter it is a fact, not generally known, that a battalion (the saber battalion) of the Second Michigan cavalry, under brevet Major Whittemore, charged the force under General Hill, near Talladega, Alabama, on the 23d of April, 1865, and was supported by the regiment and brigade, scattering the entire Confederate force and capturing the artillery, and many prisoners. This was fourteen days after the surrender at Appomattox, and therefore quite late enough after a cessation of hostilities. The next day the country was filled with small parties returning home—a sadly broken down people.
-Captain Marshall P. Thatcher, Second Michigan Cavalry [15]
Andrew Jackson Buttram was the last Confederate soldier to die in battle east of the Mississippi River. [16] He served as a Lieutenant in the Confederate Army and was killed at the Battle of Munford. [17]
Munford is a town in Talladega County, Alabama, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 1,351. It is the location of what has been called the last battle of the Civil War east of the Mississippi, the Battle of Munford on April 23, 1865, being one week after the Battle of Columbus in Georgia. The battle was responsible for the last Confederate death east of the Mississippi River, whose name was Andrew Jackson Buttram.
James Harrison Wilson was a United States Army topographic engineer and a Union Army Major General in the American Civil War. He served as an aide to Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan during the Maryland Campaign before joining Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's army in the Western Theater, where he was promoted to brigadier general. In 1864, he transferred from engineering to the cavalry, where he displayed notable leadership in many engagements of the Overland Campaign, though his attempt to destroy Lee’s supply lines failed when he was routed by a much smaller force of Confederate irregulars.
Thomas Taylor Munford was an American farmer, iron, steel and mining company executive and Confederate colonel and acting brigadier general during the American Civil War.
The 4th Kentucky Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Wilson's Raid was a cavalry operation through Alabama and Georgia in March–April 1865, late in the American Civil War. U.S. Brig. Gen. James H. Wilson led his U.S. Cavalry Corps to destroy Confederate manufacturing facilities and was opposed unsuccessfully by a much smaller force under Confederate Lt. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest.
John Thomas Wilder was an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War, noted principally for capturing the critical mountain pass of Hoover's Gap during the Tullahoma Campaign in Central Tennessee in June 1863. Wilder had personally ensured that his "Lightning Brigade" of mounted infantry was equipped with the new Spencer repeating rifle. However, Wilder initially had to appeal to his men to pay for these weapons themselves before the government agreed to carry the cost. The victory at Hoover's Gap was attributed largely to Wilder's persistence in procuring the new rifles, which disoriented the enemy.
Alabama was central to the Civil War, with the secession convention at Montgomery, birthplace of the Confederacy, inviting other states to form a Southern Republic, during January–March 1861, and develop constitutions to legally run their own affairs. The 1861 Alabama Constitution granted citizenship to current U.S. residents, but prohibited import duties (tariffs) on foreign goods, limited a standing military, and as a final issue, opposed emancipation by any nation, but urged protection of African slaves, with trial by jury, and reserved the power to regulate or prohibit the African slave trade. The secession convention invited all slaveholding states to secede, but only 7 Cotton States of the Lower South formed the Confederacy with Alabama, while the majority of slave states were in the Union. Congress voted to protect the institution of slavery by passing the Corwin Amendment on March 4, 1861, but it was never ratified.
John Wynn Davidson was a brigadier general in the United States Army during the American Civil War and an American Indian fighter. In 1866, he received brevet grade appointments as a major general of volunteers and in the regular U.S. Army for his Civil War service.
John Thomas Croxton was an attorney, a general in the United States Army during the American Civil War, and a postbellum U.S. diplomat.
2nd Arkansas Light Artillery, (1860–1865) was a Confederate Army artillery battery which served during the American Civil War. The battery spent the majority of the war serving in Confederate forces east of the Mississippi River. The battery is also referred to as the Clark County Artillery, Robert's Arkansas Battery and Wiggins Arkansas Battery.
The 72nd Indiana Infantry Regiment, also known as 72nd Indiana Mounted Infantry Regiment, was an infantry and mounted infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment served as mounted infantry from March 17, 1863, to November 1, 1864, notably as part of the Lightning Brigade during the Tullahoma and Chickamauga Campaigns.
The Battle of Columbus, Georgia, was the last conflict in the Union campaign through Alabama and Georgia, known as Wilson's Raid, in the final full month of the American Civil War.
The 46th Arkansas Infantry (Mounted) (1864–1865) was a Confederate Army Mounted Infantry regiment during the American Civil War. While authorized by the State Military Board as an infantry regiment, the unit was mounted for Price's Missouri Expedition and served as mounted infantry. Due to its mounted status, the unit is sometimes referred to as the 46th Arkansas Cavalry when a numerical designation is used. The unit is almost always referred to as either Coleman's Arkansas Cavalry Regiment or Crabtree's Cavalry in official reports from the period.
The 47th Arkansas Infantry (Mounted) (1864–1865) was a Confederate Army Mounted Infantry regiment during the American Civil War. While authorized by the State Military Board as an infantry regiment, the unit was mounted for Price's Missouri Expedition and was officially designated as mounted infantry. Due to its mounted status, the unit is sometimes referred to as the 47th Arkansas Cavalry when a numerical designation is used. The unit is most often referred to as Crandell's Arkansas Cavalry Regiment, after its commander Colonel Lee Crandell.
The 48th Arkansas Infantry (Mounted) (1864–1865) was a Confederate Army Mounted Infantry regiment during the American Civil War. While authorized by the State Military Board as an infantry regiment, the unit was mounted for Price's Missouri Expedition and was officially designated as mounted infantry. Due to its mounted status, the unit is sometimes referred to as the 48th Arkansas Cavalry when a numerical designation is used.
The 8th Arkansas Field Battery (1862–1865) was a Confederate Army artillery battery during the American Civil War. The battery spent its entire existence in the Department of the Trans-Mississippi. It was also known as Hughey's Battery.
The 1st Florida Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment raised by the Confederate state of Florida during the American Civil War. Raised for 12 months of service its remaining veterans served in the 1st (McDonell's) Battalion, Florida Infantry from April 1862 on. In August the depleted battalion was consolidated with the 3rd (Miller's) Battalion into the reorganized 1st Florida Infantry Regiment again. In December 1862 it merged with the 3rd Florida Infantry Regiment and received the form it kept till the war's end as the 1st and 3rd Consolidated Florida Infantry Regiment. Fighting as part of the Army of Tennessee in the Western Theater of the American Civil War it was surrendered on April 26, 1865.
The 9th Texas Cavalry Regiment was a unit of mounted volunteers that fought in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. The regiment fought at Round Mountain and Bird Creek (Chusto-Talasah) in 1861, Pea Ridge, Siege of Corinth, Second Corinth, Hatchie's Bridge and the Holly Springs Raid in 1862, and in the Atlanta campaign, Franklin, and Murfreesboro in 1864. The unit fought dismounted at Second Corinth and Hatchie's Bridge before being remounted as cavalry for the remainder of the war. The regiment surrendered to Federal forces on 4 May 1865 and its remaining personnel were paroled.
The 3rd Texas Cavalry Regiment or South Kansas-Texas Mounted Volunteers was a unit of mounted volunteers that fought in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. The regiment fought at Wilson's Creek and Chustenahlah in 1861, Pea Ridge, Corinth siege, Iuka, Second Corinth, and the Holly Springs Raid in 1862, Thompson's Station in 1863, and at Yazoo City, in the Atlanta campaign, and at Nashville in 1864. The regiment fought dismounted at Iuka and Second Corinth before being remounted for the rest of the war. The regiment surrendered to Federal forces in May 1865 and its remaining 207 men were paroled.
The Battle of Camp Davies was a skirmish during the American Civil War on November 22, 1863, near a Union Army camp about six miles south of Corinth, Mississippi. A 70-man detachment of the 1st Regiment Alabama Cavalry (Union), commanded by Major Francis L. Cramer, drove off a 150-man Confederate force of the 16th Battalion, Mississippi Cavalry State Troops, commanded by Major Thomas W. Ham, and killed at least 4 Confederate soldiers, while suffering two severely wounded troopers. This action is the only engagement recorded as occurring at or near Camp Davies in major sources on American Civil War battles. Other similar engagements in the vicinity of Corinth in 1863 may have occurred near Camp Davies.
Coordinates: 33°32′01″N85°57′15″W / 33.533494°N 85.954242°W