Parker's Cross Roads: Forrest Caught from Both Sides

On the last day of eighteen sixty-two, Confederate cavalry general Nathan Bedford Forrest found himself in a position he rarely occupied: trapped. Forrest had spent the previous two weeks on one of the war's most effective early raids, cutting deep into West Tennessee to destroy Union supply lines feeding Ulysses Grant's army in Mississippi. By December thirty-first, with a Union force under Colonel Cyrus Dunham pressing him at this crossroads in Henderson County, Forrest seemed to have the upper hand.

His artillery had positioned well on a wooded ridge. His troopers had repelled Union frontal assaults all morning. During a lull, Forrest sent Dunham a note demanding unconditional surrender. Dunham refused. As Forrest prepared his next attack, a second Union brigade under Colonel John Fuller arrived from the north, completely unexpected, and slammed into the Confederate rear.

Forrest's men found themselves taking fire from two directions at once. In the chaos, Forrest gave one of his most famous orders, a phrase that became part of Civil War lore: charge them both ways. His men reversed their line, repelled Fuller's attack long enough to open an escape route, then rushed past Dunham's demoralized force and broke south toward Lexington. They crossed the Tennessee River and rejoined Confederate lines.

Both sides claimed the victory. The Federals held the field. The Confederates completed their withdrawal and accomplished most of the raid's objectives. Forrest's losses were heavier, but Grant's supply lines had been significantly disrupted. The battle at this crossroads on New Year's Eve eighteen sixty-two became a template for the kind of aggressive improvisation under pressure that would define Forrest's career, for better and for worse.