The Battle of Okolona took place on February 22, 1864, in Chickasaw County, Mississippi, between Confederate and Union forces during the American Civil War. Confederate cavalry, commanded by Major-General Nathan B. Forrest, faced over 7,000 cavalry under the command of Brigadier-General William S. Smith and defeated them at Okolona, causing 100 casualties for the loss of 50.
Smith's force had been ordered to set off from Memphis, Tennessee, and rendezvous with the main Union army of 20,000 that was marching on Meridian, Mississippi, and was under the command of Major-General William T. Sherman. However, Smith disobeyed orders and delayed his march for ten days waiting on a unit that was ice bound in Kentucky. When he eventually left, he encountered the Confederate cavalry force on February 21, and on February 22 was engaged in a running battle across eleven miles with Forrest's forces. With Confederate reinforcements, Forrest routed Smith but did not pursue due to lack of ammunition, and Smith limped over the state line to Tennessee on February 26, where he was criticized for putting Sherman's Meridian campaign in danger.
Meridian was an important railroad center, and was the objective of a campaign launched from Vicksburg, Mississippi, on February 3 by Sherman, who brought 20,000 men to the outskirts of the town. Seven thousand cavalry under Smith's command were stationed in Memphis, and on February 1 these were ordered to leave for Meridian along the Mobile & Ohio Railroad and rendezvous with the main Union force on February 10. While Sherman feinted his way towards Meridian to throw off Confederate forces, Smith delayed his own advance for ten days before leaving on February 11. His force moved unopposed through the countryside, destroying railroads and crops as well as picking up 1,000 slaves. On February 16 he passed through New Albany, his progress slowed due to muddy roads. On February 18 he drove a Confederate force from West Point; and he was just outside West Point, 90 miles from Meridian, on February 20 when Sherman eventually left his position in the town and returned to Vicksburg, fearing for Smith's whereabouts. Smith, hearing of this, turned about and headed for Okolona.
Later on February 20, Smith fought an initial battle with Confederate forces under Forrest's command at Prairie Station and Aberdeen. On February 21, having decided to withdraw to West Point because of concern over the size of the Confederate forces and the fate of the slaves if they were captured, Smith was lured into the swampy area around the Tombigbee River by a Confederate cavalry brigade under Colonel Jeffrey E. Forrest. Smith was forced again to retreat, leaving a rearguard, which followed his main force two hours later.
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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