The Battle of Sulphur Creek Trestle, also known as the Battle of Athens, was fought near

Athens, Alabama Athens is a city in and the county seat of Limestone County, in the U.S. state of Alabama; it is included in the Huntsville-Decatur-Albertville, AL Combined Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city is 21,897. Histo ...

(

Limestone County, Alabama Limestone County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 103,570. Its county seat is Athens. The county is named after Limestone Creek. Limestone County is included in the Huntsville, AL Metro ...

), from September 23 to 25, 1864 as part of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. In September 1864, General

Nathan Bedford Forrest Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821October 29, 1877) was a prominent Confederate Army general during the American Civil War and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan from 1867 to 1869. Before the war, Forrest amassed substantial wealt ...

led his force into northern Alabama and middle Tennessee to disrupt the supply of William Tecumseh Sherman's army in Georgia. The battle's site was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1973.

Athens (September 23–24)

On the afternoon of 23 September, Union forces engaged Confederate forces five miles south of Athens, near Tanner, where they were destroying a railroad trestle. Forrest's Confederate forces moved towards Athens. That evening the Confederate forces gained control of the town, and the Union forces had retreated within Fort Henderson. The Confederate forces began an artillery barrage on the morning of the 24th. In a personal meeting, Forrest convinced the Union commander, Colonel Wallace Campbell, that the Confederate forces numbered 8,000-10,000. Campbell surrendered the fort and its garrison around noon. Shortly after the garrison had surrendered, reinforcements consisting of about 350 men from the 18th Michigan and 102nd Ohio, commanded by Jonas Elliott, arrived by train from Decatur. After suffering casualties of one-third their total personnel, these forces surrendered.

Sulphur Creek Trestle (September 25)

After defeating the Union forces in Athens, Forrest moved north along the railroad with the intent to destroy a strategic trestle at Sulphur Creek, six miles north of Athens. A fortification, two blockhouses, and a force of 1,000 Union soldiers defended the trestle. On the morning of the 25th, the Confederate forces began an artillery bombardment of the fort. The fortification had been built below the summits of adjacent hills, and thus provided little defense against the bombardment. 200 Union soldiers were killed, including the commander, Colonel William Hopkins Lathrop. By noon,

George Spalding George Spalding (November 12, 1836 – September 13, 1915) was a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan. Biography Spalding was born in Blairgowrie, Perthshire, Scotland and immigrated to the United States in 1843 with his parents. The sett ...

had surrendered the remaining 800 soldiers.Sulphur Battle
/ref> There were no reported Confederate losses.

Aftermath

The Union prisoners were transferred to Confederate prisons. Many of these prisoners died on April 27, 1865, when the steamboat Sultana sank while transporting them home.

Notes

References

20th (Russell's) Tennessee Cavalry, CSA
Update to the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission Report on the Nation's Civil War Battlefields - State of Alabama

* http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/sources/recordView.cfm?Content=077/0514 * Limestone County Historical Society, Historical Marker Text for "Battle of Sulphur Creek Trestle". http://www.marker.limestonecountyhistoricalsociety.org/html/sulphur_battle.html. Erected 1982. * Limestone County Historical Society. Historical Marker for "Fort Henderson", http://www.marker.limestonecountyhistoricalsociety.org/html/ft_henderson.html. Erected 2002. * Greater Limestone County Chamber of Commerce, "Athens-Limestone County Civil War Trail: Self Guided Driving Tour Featuring the Battles of Athens & Sulphur Creek Trestle", ww.tourathens.com February 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20110109114558/http://tourathens.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/civil-war-trail-single-pages-Feb-20101.pdf {{authority control 1864 in the Confederate States of America Sulphur Creek Trestle Sulphur Creek Trestle Sulphur Creek Sulphur Creek Limestone County, Alabama Morgan County, Alabama Giles County, Tennessee Sulphur Creek Trestle 1864 in Alabama 1864 in Tennessee Nathan Bedford Forrest September 1864 events