Forrest planned to encircle the Union position with artillery, using his guns to fight the battle rather than engaging his dismounted troops in close small arms combat. When Forrest deployed his troops following the engagement at Hicks' field he ordered a portion of Captain Samuel L. Freeman's Battery to take position here. Major Nicholas N. Cox's Tennessee Cavalry Battalion (dismounted) supported the battery. Freeman's cannon were placed on this low rise, which commanded a comprehensive view of the battlefield. Additional artillery was positioned to the southeast.

These guns proved extremely affective, as Colonel Cyrus Dunham later reported: The enemy at this time had one battery on a ridge in front of and parallel to our line; one on a ridge nearly perpendicular to but beyond our line to the right, so situated as to enable him to concentrate a fire upon several portions of our line and to enfilade a part of it, and his fire had become terrible in its intensity.

The Confederate artillery kept up a constant fire, notwithstanding efforts by the Federals to silence the pieces by shooting down the artillerists at the guns. Dunham twice ordered his right flank units to charge these guns but neither charge succeeded against the deadly fire of double canister. After the second charge faltered, Forrest ordered his troops to advance. The Federal troops fell back to a new position behind a split-rail fence at the edge of the woods visible to the south.

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Show me all markers in:  Wildersville, TN  |  Henderson County  |  38388  |  Tennessee  |  United States of America

Manning the Guns
Confederate Horseholders
The Battle Begins
Fuller's Assault
"Give 'Em Hell"
"Charge Them Both Ways"
The Battle of Parker's Crossroads
The Battle of Parker's Crossroads
Flight to Safety
Parker's Cross Roads

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