Union Colonel Benjamin Grierson stuck his
left foot into the stirrup and swung up into
the saddle. Orders were quickly given, and
soon a column of 1,700 blue-jacketed
troopers of Grierson’s 1st Brigade, along
with a battery of artillery, trampled south-
east from La Grange, Tennessee, in the
early dawn of April 17, 1863. The caval-
rymen were traveling light, packing only
five days’ rations to last them 10 days, oats
in the nosebag for their mounts, and 40rounds of ammunition for their carbines
and revolvers.
The blue column snaked into the pine-
clad hills of northern Mississippi. Most of
the men thought they were headed on a
scouting mission to Columbus to smash up
the railroads there. They were wrong. Only
the 36-year-old Grierson and his aide, Lieu-
tenant Samuel Woodson, knew the true
objective of the raid. It was much deeper
into enemy territory—and much riskier.The key Confederate port of Vicksburg,
on the east bank of the Mississippi River,
had withstood numerous Union attempts
to capture it since late 1862. Finally, in
early 1863, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant
decided on a bold plan to march a good
portion of the Army of the Tennessee down
the west bank of the river past Vicksburg
while naval support slipped past the port’s
defiant batteries. Then Grant would move
his troops across the mighty river andsecure a beachhead before investing Vicks-
burg from the south. To help keep the
Rebels distracted from the beachhead, var-
ious diversions were needed.
Besides feints north of Vicksburg, a cav-
alry raid south of Vicksburg was planned
to disrupt the railroads, especially the
Southern Railroad of Mississippi, the main
supply line into the city, and tie up Con-
federate forces there. Grant wanted Grier-
son to lead the raid, writing to Maj. Gen.
Stephen Hurlbut, commander of XVI
Corps, in Memphis in mid-February: “It
seems to me that Grierson, with about five
hundred picked men, might succeed in
making his way south, and cut the railroad
east of Jackson, Miss. The undertaking
would be a hazardous one, but it would
pay well if carried out.”
The raid suited Grierson, who in Decem-
ber had taken command of the 1st Brigade,
1st Cavalry Division, XVI Corps. The
brigade consisted of the 6th Illinois, 7th Illi-
nois, and 2nd Iowa Cavalry. Grierson didmuch of the planning of the raid, although
he was aided by his superiors, Generals
Hurlbut and William Sooy Smith, who
commanded the La Grange camp.
Although Grant had initially suggested that
Grierson should take 500 men, this force
was increased to 1,700 troopers—Grier-
son’s whole brigade plus Battery K of the
1st Illinois Artillery, which sported six light-
caliber Woodruff guns.
Although Grant wanted the Southern
Railroad cut somewhere between Merid-
ian and Jackson before his army crossed
the Mississippi, it was decided that more
had to be done than just tear up tracks. To
distract the Confederates, the town of
Newton Station would be the primary tar-
get. There the tracks of the Southern Rail-
road could be wrecked and the railroad
depot burned. Newton Station also offered
the opportunity of wrecking tracks on the
nearby Gulf & Ohio Railroad, which ran
north and south.
To give Grierson’s raiders a better chanceWreckingon
the Railroad
On April 17, 1863, Union
Colonel Benjamin
Grierson led 1,700
cavalrymen southward
from La Grange,
Tennessee, into northern
Mississippi on a daring
raid designed to divert
enemy attention from
strategically vital
Vicksburg.
By Mike Phifer
CWQ-EW16 Griersons Raid_Layout 1 10/22/15 3:03 PM Page 80