Streight's Raid (19 April – 3 May 1863) took place in northern Alabama during the American Civil War (1861-1865). It was led by Union Army Col. Abel D. Streight (1828-1892) and opposed by the Confederate States Army of Brig. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest (1820-1877), Streight's goal was to destroy parts of the Western and Atlantic Railroad, which was supplying the Confederate Army of Tennessee to the north. The raid was poorly supplied and planned, and ended with the defeat of Col. Streight and his 1,700 men at Cedar Bluff, Alabama, by Gen. Forrest who bluffed his opponent into surrendering to his 500 men in the town there. Streight was additionally hindered by Southern locals throughout his march, while pursued by Forrest, who had the advantage of knowing the home territory and the sympathy and aid of the local Alabama populace, most famously of Emma Sansom (1847-1900), who later had a statue erected for her in Gadsden, Alabama, which subsequently became controversial in 2020.
The actual capture of Col. Streight's larger and better equipped forces was achieved by a clever ruse, when General Forrest paraded his much smaller force back and forth in front of Streight, convincing him that he was opposed by a superior force. After surrendering and being informed of the deception Streight reputedly demanded his arms back to prepare for a proper fight, a request cheerfully declined by Forrest.
This unsuccessful Northern raid was coordinated with the more famous Grierson's Raid, also in April-May 1863, with 1,700 mounted troopers in three regiments by Col. Benjamin Grierson (1826-1911), further west driving south around the besieged Mississippi River port town and fortress of Vicksburg down through Mississippi from LaGrange, Tennessee to the Federal-occupied state capital of Baton Rouge, Louisiana in the south, partially as a feint to confuse the scattered Confederate forces.
Union losses were 12 killed, 69 wounded, and 1,466 captured, for a total of 1,547.
== Chronology of events / locations of Streight's Raid in April-May 1863 ==
Nashville, Tennessee (state capital) (7–10 April) — proceeded by river
Palmyra, Tennessee (11–13 April) — proceeded on foot
Yellow Creek, Tennessee (13–14 April) — proceeded on foot
Fort Henry, Tennessee (15–17 April) — proceeded by river
Eastport, Mississippi (19–21 April) — proceeded either by foot or river
Bear Creek/River, Mississippi (22 April) — proceeded on foot the rest of the way
Skirmishes at the East Branch of the Black Warrior River (1 May)
Skirmishes at the crossing of Black Creek, near Gadsden (2 May)
Damaged ammunition while crossing Will's Creek, near Gadsden (2 May)
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.
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