Indiana 50th Infantry (Union)

Munfordville

After the Confederate victory at Richmond, Kentucky at the end of August, Gen. Braxton Bragg continued to operate in the strategic border state and moved his army to cover pursuing Union army routes in the area. Munfordville, with its 1,800-foot-long railroad bridge over the Green River, was a key station on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad and therefore of great military importance. Approaching the town on September 14th, Brig. Gen. James R. Chalmers urged Union Col. John T. Wilder to surrender his 4,0…READ MORE

Parker's Cross Roads

As Brig. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest's expedition into West Tennessee neared its conclusion, the Union brigades of Col. Cyrus L. Dunham and Col. John W. Fuller, attempted to cut Forrest off from withdrawing across the Tennessee River. Dunham's and Forrest's routes on December 31, 1862, brought them into contact at Parker's Cross Roads. Skirmishing began about 9:00 am, with Forrest taking a position along a wooded ridge northwest of Dunham at the intersection. Confederate artillery gained an early advantag…READ MORE

Jenkins' Ferry

At Jenkins Ferry on April 29 and 30, 1864, Union troops fought off an attack by the Confederates and, using an inflatable pontoon bridge, crossed the flooded Saline River and retreated to Little Rock. The land where this Civil War battle took place was settled by Thomas Jenkins, who started the ferry in 1815. It was run by his sons, William and John DeKalb, until the Civil War circa 1861.READ MORE

Fort Blakeley

Although the harbor of Mobile Bay had been closed to blockade running traffic since mid-summer 1864 with Admiral David G. Farragut's victory there, the port city of Mobile still remained in Confederate control. In late March 1865, two Federal infantry columns converged on the defenses of the city at Fort Blakeley and Spanish Fort. One force of 13,000 Union soldiers commanded by Gen. Frederick Steele moved west from Pensacola with orders to take Blakely from the rear. Union Gen. Edward R.S. Canby's Sixteent…READ MORE