From an address by General J. R. Chalmers in 1879: Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest And His Campaigns
Southern Historical Society Papers, Vol. VII. Richmond, Va., October, 1879. No. 10.
The Defeat Of General W. Sooy Smith.
On the 3d of February, 1864, General Sherman began his movement from Vicksburg to Meridian, Mississippi, and at the same time sent a force up by Yazoo City, to take Forrest in rear at Grenada, and ordered General W. Sooy Smith to "move from Collierville on Pontotoc and Okolona," &c., and to meet him at Meridian, Mississippi, as near the 10th of February as he could.
General Sherman says "General Polk seemed to have no suspicion of our intention to disturb him." If this were true, he certainly could not say the same thing of Forrest. He knew that Smith's cavalry was preparing to move some time before it did move. On the 8th two infantry columns moved - - one on Panola and the other on Wyatt -- and on the 9th, one day before the cavalry started, Forrest, then at Oxford, telegraphed Chalmers, at Panola, to skirmish with the infantry, but that this was a feint, and he must be ready to intercept the cavalry, which he predicted would strike for Columbus and the prairie country of east Mississippi, where we had government works and a large quantity of corn. McCulloch's and Richardson's brigades were then stretched out from Panola to Abbeville, watching the crossings of the Tallahatchie river, while Jeff Forrest's brigade was at Grenada watching the forces at Yazoo City, and Bell, at Oxford, organizing. On the 1Oth Smith started from Collierville. On the 11th McCulloch moved to Oxford on converging lines with him. By the 14th it was manifest that Smith was moving for the prairie, and Forrest ordered a concentration of his command near West Point to intercept him, and this was accomplished by the 18th.
Jeff Forrest reaching there on the 17th. His brigade was thrown forward towards Aberdeen, and continued skirmishing with the enemy until the 20th. On the 20th Bell's brigade was sent to keep on the flank of the enemy and cover Columbus, and McCulloch and Richardson moved up to support Jeff. Forrest, and all fell back, slowly skirmishing to West Point. A telegram received here announced that General S.D. Lee, with three brigades (Jackson, Ferguson and Adams), would be with us early on the 22d, and Forrest retired behind Suquatoncha creek, of steep banks and miry bottom, and over which there were but few bridges, easily defended. This was a perfectly safe position, where he could easily hold the enemy in check until Lee could arrive. Smith was in a complete cul- de- sac, formed by the Suquatoncha on his right, the Tibbee before him, and the Tombigbee on his left; and Lee and Forrest united could have crossed the Suquatoncha behind him and captured his command.
Early on the morning of the 21st, a heavy fire was opened on our pickets, composed of two regiments, dismounted and thrown out in front of the bridge, four miles west of West Point. Forrest soon came up to where I was standing on the causeway leading to the bridge, and as it was the first time I had been with him in a fight, I watched him closely. His manner was nervous, impatient and imperious. He asked me what the enemy were doing, and when I gave him the report just received from Colonel Duff, in command of the pickets, he said, sharply: "I will go and see myself," and started across the bridge, which was about thirty yards long, and then being raked by the enemy's fire. This struck me at the time as a needless and somewhat braggadocio exposure of himself, and I followed him to see what he would do. When we reached the other bank, the fire of the enemy was very heavy, and our men were falling back -- one running without hat or gun. In an instant Forrest seized and threw him on the ground, and while the bullets were whistling thick around him, administered a severe thrashing with a brush of wood.
A short time afterward I saw this scene illustrated in Harper's Weekly, as Forrest breaking in a conscript. He stood a few minutes, and when the fire slackened a little, ordered up his escort and McCulloch's brigade; and they soon came. Leaving McCulloch in position, he mounted with his escort, a splendid company of seventy five young men, who each seemed inspired with the reckless courage of their leader, and dashed off through the woods to the flank and rear of the enemy. He soon discovered that the attacking force was small; and at once suspecting it to be the attack of a rear guard to cover a retreat, he ordered the first division forward, and the enemy fell back rapidly before him until they reached a wood four miles north of West Point, where they made a stand in force. After a heavy fight, in which he lost eighty killed and wounded, and the enemy as many, and where he took seventy five prisoners, he drove them back again, and continued the pursuit until dark, when he bivouacked on ground prepared by the enemy, and where he found forage and camp fires all ready for his use.
Continuing the pursuit early on the morning of the 22d, he overtook the main body of the Federals drawn up in line of battle at Okolona, a town situated in an open prairie. Up to this time he had with him only his first division, not exceeding two thousand men. Before him, in an open prairie, where all the movements of each side could be seen, was Sooy Smith, with seven thousand picked Federal cavalry, selected especially, it is said, to crush the Confederate leader. If Sooy Smith had fallen back from his dangerous position at West Point to draw Forrest from a junction with Lee, he had acted with wisdom and skill; and now the long looked for opportunity seemed to have arrived, when, with a superior force of well drilled and splendidly armed cavalry, in an open prairie peculiarly fitted for cavalry operations, the cherished object of General Sherman could be accomplished. A less impetuous man than Forrest might have paused before such a situation; but he never hesitated a moment.
His two brigades of the first division had been ordered forward on two different roads, converging at Okolona, and on they came at a run; and at this moment Bell's brigade, which had been watching the flank of the enemy, came in from an opposite direction. Forrest, putting himself at the head of one regiment of this brigade, mounted, made his favorite flank attack, while his three brigades quickly dismounted, attacked in front; and, after a short fight, the enemy, as if paralyzed with fear, fled almost without a struggle, leaving a small battery of artillery and about thirty killed and wounded.
Sooy Smith, in his report, accounts for his defeat thus: "After the Fourth regulars had driven one entire Rebel brigade out of town three times, a portion of McCrillis' brigade, sent to the support of the Fourth, stampeded at the yells of our own men charging, and galloped back through and over everything, spreading confusion wherever they went and driving Perkins' battery of six small mountain howitzers off the road into a ditch." Forrest pursued with his accustomed vigor; and twice after this the enemy seemed to have regained their courage, and making bold stands, fought for a time with stubbornness and skill.
In their first stand Colonel Jeff. Forrest was killed, and in the last, which occurred about sundown, General Forrest and three hundred men, some distance in advance of his main body, was repulsed, and only escaped capture by taking shelter, dismounted, in a ravine, which he held by hard fighting, until rescued by gallant old Bob McCulloch, Colonel of the Second Missouri cavalry, who never failed to come when needed, but never received the promotion he deserved.
Although this does not give specifics on how they were equipped, it does allow us to see quite a few of the moves made leading up to Ellis` Bridge and the Battle of Okolona and it gives a really good perspective and first hand account by General Chalmers himself regarding all of those actions, be it some 15 years later.