Hatchie's Bridge was a Civil War engagement fought in Tennessee, 1862. It was a Union victory.
Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn's Confederate Army of West Tennessee retreated from Corinth on October 4, 1862. Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans did not send forces in pursuit until the morning of the 5th. Maj. Gen. Edward O.C. Ord, commanding a detachment of the Army of West Tennessee, was, pursuant to orders, advancing on Corinth to assist Rosecrans. On the night of October 4-5, he camped near Pocahontas. Between 7:30 and 8:00 am the next morning, his force encountered Union Maj. Gen. Stephen A. Hurlbut's 4th Brigade, Army of West Tennessee, in the Confederates's front. Ord took command of the now-combined Union forces and pushed Van Dorn's advance, Maj. Gen. Sterling Price's Army of the West, back about five miles to the Hatchie River and across Davis' Bridge. After accomplishing this, Ord was wounded and Hurlbut assumed command. While Price's men were hotly engaged with Ord's force, Van Dorn's scouts looked for and found another crossing of the Hatchie River. Van Dorn then led his army back to Holly Springs. Ord had forced Price to retreat, but the Confederates escaped capture or destruction. Although they should have done so, Rosecrans's army had failed to capture or destroy Van Dorn's force.
On October 5, 1862, Union and Confederate forces clashed at Hatchie Bridge, a fight also remembered under the names Davis Bridge and Matamora. The action unfolded across Hardeman County and McNairy County, Tennessee, marking the closing clash of the Iuka-Corinth Campaign during the American Civil War. Having suffered defeat at Corinth, Confederate Major General Earl Van Dorn led his army through this encounter and managed to slip past Union forces seeking to capture it.
On October 4, 1862, Van Dorn pulled his Army of West Tennessee out of Corinth, Mississippi. Rosecrans, however, waited until the following morning before sending Union troops after them.
Meanwhile, Ord had been directed to move his detachment of Grant's Army of the Tennessee toward Corinth in support of Rosecrans's effort. His men bivouacked near Pocahontas on the night spanning October 4 and 5.
The next day, sometime between 7:30 and 8:00 in the morning, Ord's soldiers linked up with Hurlbut's 4th Division of the District of Jackson, positioned ahead of the retreating Confederates. Assuming command over the joined Union forces, Ord drove Price's Army of the West, which formed Van Dorn's leading element, roughly five miles rearward to the Hatchie River, forcing them over Davis's Bridge. It was at this point that Ord suffered a wound to his ankle, prompting Hurlbut to take over command.
Even as Price's troops remained locked in fierce fighting against Ord's men, Van Dorn dispatched scouts who located an alternate crossing point along the Hatchie. This discovery allowed Van Dorn to withdraw his entire army toward Holly Springs. Grant, learning of these developments, instructed Rosecrans to call off the chase.
Though Ord had succeeded in driving Price backward, the Confederate force ultimately slipped away without being captured or destroyed. Rosecrans's army, despite having the opportunity to finish off Van Dorn's command, came away from the engagement having failed to do so.
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