two brigades of the first division had been ordered forward on two different roads, converging at Okalona, and on they came at a run; and at this moment Bell's brigade, which had been watching the flank of the enemy, came in from an opposite direction. Forrest, putting himself at the head of one regiment of this brigade, mounted, made his favorite flank attack, while his three brigades, quickly dismounted, attacked in front; and, after a short fight, the enemy, as if paralyzed with fear, fled almost without a struggle, leaving a small battery of artillery and about thirty killed and wounded. Sooy Smith, in his report, accounts for his defeat thus: "After the Fourth regulars had driven one entire Rebel brigade out of town three times, a portion of McCrillis' brigade, sent to the support of the Fourth, stampeded at the yells of our own men charging, and galloped back through and over everything, spreading confusion wherever they went and driving Perkins' battery of six small mountain howitzers off the road into a ditch." Forrest pursued with his accustomed vigor; and twice after this the enemy seemed to have regained their courage, and making bold stands, fought for a time with stubbornness and skill. In their first stand Colonel Jeff. Forrest was killed, and in the last, which occurred about sundown, General Forrest and three hundred men, some distance in advance of his main body, was repulsed, and only escaped capture by taking shelter, dismounted, in a ravine, which he held by hard fighting, until rescued by gallant old Bob McCulloch, Colonel of the Second Missouri cavalry, who never failed to come when needed, but never received the promotion he deserved.
SHERMAN'S MARCH TO MERIDIAN
General Sherman, in the meantime, had marched to Meridian, and says: "We staid in Meridian five days, expecting every hour to hear of General Sooy Smith, but could get no tidings of him whatever."
As this was an important movement, and as its main object was, as we believe, defeated by Forrest, we must pause to consider the situation at that time. General Sherman expresses it in these words: "The Rebels still maintained a considerable force of infantry and cavalry in the State of Mississippi, threatening the river, whose navigation had become to us so delicate and important a matter. Satisfied that I could check this by one or two quick moves inland, and thereby set free a considerable body of men held as local garrisons, I went up to Nashville and represented the case to General Grant." General Sherman further says: "A chief part of the enterprise was to destroy the Rebel cavalry commanded by General Forrest, who were a constant threat to our railway communications in Middle Tennessee, and I committed this task to Brigadier-General W. Sooy Smith. General Hurlbut had in his command about seven thousand five hundred cavalry, scattered from Columbus, Kentucky, to Corinth, Mississippi, and we proposed to make up an aggregate cavalry force of about seven thousand 'effective,' out of these and the
