The Battle of Selma occurred on April 2, 1865, as part of Wilson's Raid, a Union campaign through Alabama and Georgia during the final full month of the American Civil War. General James H. Wilson led his cavalry force southward from Gravelly Springs beginning March 22, 1865, with the objective of advancing through Confederate territory. The engagement was precipitated by Wilson's strategic decisions to disrupt Confederate supply lines and reinforcements, including detaching Brigadier-General John T. Croxton's brigade to destroy Confederate property at Tuscaloosa and sending another brigade to destroy the bridge across the Cahaba River at Centreville, effectively isolating Confederate forces under Lieutenant-General Nathan B. Forrest from potential reinforcement.
The immediate campaign leading to Selma involved a running battle between Wilson's cavalry and Forrest's forces that began following the bridge destruction at Centreville. Wilson first encountered Forrest in a running battle at Ebenezer Church on April 1, 1865, where he skillfully continued his advance despite Confederate opposition. On April 2, as Wilson's force approached Selma, the Union commander divided his approximately 13,500 cavalry into three separate columns to attack the well-defended city from multiple directions simultaneously. This tactical division forced the Confederates to spread their defensive resources across separate breakthrough points.
The Union assault succeeded in breaking through the Confederate defenses at multiple locations, forcing the city to surrender. However, the battle resulted in a partial Confederate withdrawal rather than complete encirclement, as many Confederate officers and men, including Forrest and Lieutenant-General Richard Taylor, managed to escape from the city despite the Union victory. The fall of Selma represented a significant achievement in Wilson's campaign through Alabama, contributing to the broader Union advance during the war's final weeks.
The American Civil War (1861–1865) was the deadliest conflict in American history, killing an estimated 620,000 to 750,000 soldiers and an unknown number of civilians. The Confederate States of America, formed by eleven seceding Southern states, faced the Union in four years of warfare across 23 states and territories. Major engagements included First and Second Bull Run, Antietam (the bloodiest single day in American history, September 17, 1862), Chancellorsville, Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863), Vicksburg (surrendered July 4, 1863), and Sherman's March through Georgia and the Carolinas (1864–1865). President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, transforming the war's stated purpose to include the abolition of slavery and enabling the enlistment of approximately 180,000 Black men in the United States Colored Troops. Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. The war resolved the question of secession and ended American slavery, though Reconstruction would face sustained resistance in its attempt to secure civil rights for formerly enslaved people.
Union: 5 killed; Confederate: 20 killed
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