The Battle of Columbus, Georgia (April 16, 1865), was the last conflict in the Union campaign through Alabama and Georgia, known as Wilson's Raid, in the final full month of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. Maj. Gen. James H. Wilson had been ordered to destroy the city of Columbus as a major Confederate manufacturing center. He exploited enemy confusion when troops from both sides crowded on to the same bridge in the dark, and the garrison withheld its cannon fire. Next morning, Wilson laid waste to the city and took many prisoners. Several authorities claim Columbus should be classified as the last battle of the Civil War, while others point to a battle which occurred after the Confederacy was vanquished, the Battle of Palmito Ranch. The Battle of Columbus is also known as the Battle of Girard, Alabama (now Phenix City).

Events leading to the battle

After the Union victory in the

Battle of Nashville The Battle of Nashville was a two-day battle in the Franklin-Nashville Campaign that represented the end of large-scale fighting west of the coastal states in the American Civil War. It was fought at Nashville, Tennessee, on December 15–16, 18 ...

(December 15–16, 1864), Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas ordered Maj. Gen. James H. Wilson to march into the heart of the

Deep South The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion of the Southern United States. The term is used to describe the states which were most economically dependent on Plantation complexes in the Southern United States, plant ...

and destroy the major Confederate supply centers at

Selma, Alabama Selma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, in the Black Belt region of south central Alabama and extending to the west. Located on the banks of the Alabama River, the city has a population of 17,971 as of the 2020 census. Abou ...

, and

Columbus, Georgia Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee ...

. Wilson left Gravelly Springs,

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

, on March 22, 1865, heading for Selma, a major manufacturing and supply center. The

Battle of Selma The Battle of Selma was fought on April 2, 1865 in Dallas County, Alabama during the American Civil War. It was part of the Union campaign through Alabama and Georgia, known as Wilson's Raid, in the final full month of the Civil War. Brevet ...

was fought on April 2, 1865, against the leadership of Lt. Gen.

Nathan Bedford Forrest Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821October 29, 1877) was an List of slave traders of the United States, American slave trader, active in the lower Mississippi River valley, who served as a General officers in the Confederate States Army, Con ...

, whose men were hopelessly outnumbered by the Union troops. The battle took place on the same day the Confederate capital of

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

fell to the

Army of the Potomac The Army of the Potomac was the primary field army of the Union army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was created in July 1861 shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run and was disbanded in June 1865 following the Battle of ...

. Forrest managed to inflict heavy casualties on the attackers, but Wilson's raiders finally broke through the defenses and captured Selma by 7 p.m. that evening. Wilson's men destroyed all the military supplies and looted the city before moving on. On April 9, 1865, General

Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a general officers in the Confederate States Army, Confederate general during the American Civil War, who was appointed the General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate ...

surrendered to Lt. Gen.

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. In 1865, as Commanding General of the United States Army, commanding general, Grant led the Uni ...

at Appomattox Court House. Confederate General Joe Johnston's army was still intact, as were the armies in Alabama and Mississippi and in the Trans-Mississippi theater. Also, because of the lack of communications, General Wilson was not aware of Lee's surrender. He continued his raids. On April 12, 1865, Wilson's men marched into the former Confederate capital of

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama. Named for Continental Army major general Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River on the Gulf Coastal Plain. The population was 2 ...

, encountering token resistance from the Confederates. Wilson's next target was the manufacturing city of

, the largest-surviving supply city in the South. Columbus was second only to Richmond in providing the industrial support for the war, and Richmond had been taken. Columbus was located on the

Chattahoochee River The Chattahoochee River () is a river in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern United States. It forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida and Georgia border. It ...

, where there was a major naval construction facility. A new

ironclad An ironclad was a steam engine, steam-propelled warship protected by iron armour, steel or iron armor constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or ince ...

, the CSS ''Muscogee'', was docked at Columbus waiting to be completed. Abraham Lincoln was fatally shot in Washington on Good Friday, April 14, and he died the next day, but Wilson had not yet learned of this.

Columbus alerted to the attack

The Confederates in Columbus were well aware that Wilson's 13,000 men were on the way. Confederate Major General Howell Cobb had been placed in charge of whatever forces he could gather, and he did his best to prepare to defend Columbus. Cobb had about 3,500 men in his forces, most of them Georgia and Alabama home guard units and civilian volunteers. On April 16, 1865, Columbus newspapers warned citizens to leave the town, since a Union attack was imminent.

The public is hereby notified of the rapid approach of the enemy, but assured that the city of Columbus will be defended to the last. Judging from experience it is believed that the city will be shelled. Notice is, therefore, given to all non-combatants to move away immediately.

General Howell Cobb's defense strategy

Cobb decided to defend the city on the western (

) side of the Chattahoochee, in the town of Girard (now known as Phenix City). There the Confederates used

trench A trench is a type of digging, excavation or depression in the ground that is generally deeper than it is wide (as opposed to a swale (landform), swale or a bar ditch), and narrow compared with its length (as opposed to a simple hole or trapping ...

es, breastworks and earthen forts that had been partially built earlier in the war. Now their completion became imperative. The main objective was to defend the two covered bridges that connected Girard to Columbus. Cobb had the advantage of knowing that Wilson would have to concentrate on these two narrow locations in order to capture Columbus. Cobb also wanted to keep the high ground in Girard out of Wilson's clutch, lest he have a convenient perch to bombard Columbus. In addition to preparing strong fortified positions on the high ground in Girard on the west side of the Chattahoochee, Cobb ordered the base of the bridges to be wrapped in cotton and doused with

turpentine Turpentine (which is also called spirit of turpentine, oil of turpentine, terebenthine, terebenthene, terebinthine and, colloquially, turps) is a fluid obtainable by the distillation of resin harvested from living trees, mainly pines. Principall ...

. In the event that the Confederates were unable to fend off Wilson's raiders, they could, as a last resort, burn the bridges to deny Wilson's troops easy access to Columbus. The bridges were designed by Horace King, master builder and legislator. In 1807, King was born into slavery but through hard work, he earned his freedom and became one of the most respected bridge builders in the South. Affectionately known as Horace “The Bridge Builder” King and the "Prince of Bridge Builders", he emerged from the Civil War as a legislator in the State of Alabama.

The battle

Between 1:30 and 2 p.m. on

Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...

, April 16, 1865, Wilson's raiders arrived at Girard, and the fighting began. Wilson also sent a detachment north of Columbus to West Point, Georgia, to cross the Chattahoochee River there. West Point was defended by the garrison at Fort Tyler. The

Battle of West Point The Battle of West Point, Georgia (April 16, 1865), formed part of the Union (American Civil War), Union campaign through Alabama and Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, known as Wilson's Raid, in the final full month of the American Civil War. The ...

and the Battle of Columbus took place on the same day. At about 2 p.m. Union General

Emory Upton Emory Upton (August 27, 1839 – March 15, 1881) was a United States Army general and military strategist, prominent for his role in leading infantry to attack entrenched positions successfully at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House during th ...

's division launched an attack on the lower (southern) bridge. Meeting very little resistance, they thought they would cross the bridge and take Columbus relatively easily. Upton remarked, "Columbus is ours without a shot being fired." But this was a trap. Confederates removed the planks on the east side of the bridge to halt the Federals and allow the Confederates to burn the bridge filled with soldiers. Recognizing the peril, Upton was forced to retreat. It seemed that the Confederates might be able to defend Columbus. John Pemberton

Wilson turned his attention to the upper bridge. As the sun began to set, General Robert Toombs (CSA) telegraphed Governor Joseph E. Brown of Georgia telling him that a skirmish had occurred. He projected a "decided fight" the following day. To Toombs' surprise, General Wilson launched an assault on the upper bridge at 8 p.m., after nightfall. He ordered General Winslow's brigade of the 3rd and 4th Iowa Cavalry regiments to lead the attack. Colonel

Frederick Benteen Frederick William Benteen (August 24, 1834 – June 22, 1898) was a military officer who first fought during the American Civil War. He was appointed to commanding ranks during the Indian Campaigns and Great Sioux War against the Lakota peopl ...

was ordered to lead the charge on the bridge. He later served under Custer at the

Battle of Little Big Horn The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Northe ...

. A tremendous clash occurred near the entrance of the upper bridge. Confederate John Pemberton was slashed by a sabre. Around 10 p.m. the Confederate defenses in Girard collapsed, and they attempted a retreat back across the

into Georgia. At the same time, Winslow's brigade was eager to get across the upper bridge before it too might be set afire by the Confederates. Side by side, both Union and Confederate soldiers raced across the bridge to Columbus. It was too dark, however, for either to see who was who. Though attempts were made to burn the bridge, the Confederates did not want to endanger their own troops. General Robert Toombs commanded two cannon on the Georgia side of the upper bridge. They were loaded with canister and aimed to bring down those making their way through the covered bridge. But, knowing that the soldiers running across the bridge were a mix of Union and Confederates, Toombs held his fire. At 11 p.m. Wilson made his way across the bridge. As he crossed, his horse was shot and later died. On the Columbus side of the bridge, Wilson took up headquarters in the house nearest to the bridge: the Mott House (Columbus, Georgia). There on "Mott's Green", Colonel C. A. L. Lamar led a cavalry charge. Lamar was killed after refusing to surrender to a dismounted Union cavalryman. Lamar was identified by General

William Tecumseh Sherman William Tecumseh Sherman ( ; February 8, 1820February 14, 1891) was an American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. He served as a General officer, general in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865), earning recognit ...

, erroneously, as the last Confederate to die in the Civil War. Lamar was previously known for his role in underwriting the illegal voyage of ''Wanderer'', which landed 409 Africans on Jekyll Island outside Brunswick, Georgia in 1858.

The day after

On the morning of April 17, 1865, General Wilson ordered the destruction of all resources in Columbus that could aid the Confederate war effort. The ironclad CSS ''Muscogee'' (also known as the CSS ''Jackson'') was burned and sunk, and the Confederate naval facility, Port Columbus, was entirely destroyed.J. David Dameron,
The Battle of Columbus, April 16-17, 1865
', Southeast Research Publishing, LLC, Madison, Alabama, 2017. Confederates scuttled the CSS ''Chattahoochee'' to prevent it from falling into Union hands. A review of the hospital records of the Battle of Columbus reveal the actual number of casualties incurred were considerably higher than previously reported. While the initial Union casualty list reported by General Wilson indicated a loss of 25 men during the assault, the actual number was 60. 10 of these men were killed in battle and 8 others later died of their wounds. Most of these men are buried in Andersonville National Cemetery. The Confederate casualties numbered 151, of whom many are buried in Columbus at Linwood Cemetery. Another 1,600 Confederate prisoners were rounded up and incarcerated in a makeshift Union prison camp. The Union army entirely destroyed the Confederate manufacturing facilities in both Columbus, Georgia and Girard (now Phenix City), Alabama. Collateral damage on either side of the Chattahoochee River was rather extensive as well. For days after the battle, "the flames that consumed the warehouses and factories in the Chattahoochee Valley marked the end of the war." The Union cavalry vanguard departed Columbus on the 18th of April.

On to Macon and the capture of America's most wanted men

Immediately after the victory at Columbus, Wilson led his raiders east to

Macon, Georgia Macon ( ), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county in Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. Situated near the Atlantic Seaboard fall line, fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is southeast of Atlanta and near the ...

and occupied that city without resistance. Ten days after the Battle of Columbus, the last great army of the Confederacy, under General

Joseph E. Johnston Joseph Eggleston Johnston (February 3, 1807 – March 21, 1891) was an American military officer who served in the United States Army during the Mexican–American War (1846–1848) and the Seminole Wars. After Virginia declared secession from ...

, surrendered at Bennett Place,

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. The

had come to an end. In early May in central Georgia, Wilson's men apprehended the two most wanted men in America:

Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the only President of the Confederate States of America, president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the Unite ...

, president of the Confederacy; and Captain

Henry Wirz Henry Wirz (born Hartmann Heinrich Wirz; November 25, 1823 – November 10, 1865) was a Swiss-American convicted war criminal who served as a Confederate Army officer during the American Civil War. He was the commandant of Andersonville Prison, ...

, commandant of the Confederate prison at Andersonville.

Argument that Columbus was the last battle of the Civil War

Several sources have held that this was the last battle of the war.Richard Gardiner, "The Last Battle of the Civil War and Its Preservation," ''Journal of America's Military Past'' XXXVIII (Summer 2013), 5–22
/ref> In 1935, seeking support for a national battlefield park to be established here, the

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

state government declared this to be the "last battle of the war between the states." Insofar as the surrender of the bulk of Confederates on April 26, 1865, at Bennett Place, North Carolina, marked the effective end of the war (as many state governments maintained), the Battle at Columbus was the last battle of the Civil War. President

Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. The 16th vice president, he assumed the presidency following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a South ...

, who had succeeded Lincoln, declared the war over on May 10, 1865. This was the day that President

was captured. Johnson characterized remaining resisters as no longer combatants, but "fugitives." The Battle of Palmito Ranch took place on May 13. Some claim that this was the last battle of the war, rejecting President Johnson's definition and preferring to refer to the Confederates there as "organized forces" of the Confederacy. The officers who led Union forces in the battle insisted that Columbus was the last battle of the war. On May 30, 1865 Brevet Major General

reported for his division in the Wilson Raid, in the ''Official Records'', that the Battle of Columbus was the "closing conflict of the war." In 1868, General Wilson gave a speech to a soldier's reunion, wherein he detailed the Battle of Columbus and concluded "the last battle had been fought." In 1913 Wilson wrote that there were "no grounds left for doubting that 'Columbus was the last battle of the war.'" General Edward F. Winslow wrote, "I have always considered that engagement, by the number present and the results achieved, to be the final battle of the war." Colonel Theodore Allen wrote, "It is true that there was some desultory fighting and scrapping after the battle at Columbus, Georgia, but nothing of sufficient size to entitle it to the name of a battle." A movement to preserve the Girard/Columbus battlefield as a national park was active from the 1890s through the 1930s. The director of the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

, Arno B. Cammerer, rejected the proposal in 1934. In response, in 1935 the Georgia state legislature passed a resolution identifying the battle as the last of the Civil War and calling again for a national battlefield park to be established there. In the 21st century, some people have begun a renewed effort to commemorate the battlefield as a park. Representatives of

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a tota ...

posted an appeal in 2013 to help preserve Ft. Gilmer, one of the earthwork redoubts on the Alabama side of the Chattahoochee River. In 2015,

Columbus State University Columbus State University is a public university in Columbus, Georgia, United States. Founded as Columbus College in 1958, the university was established and is administered by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. History ...

Professor Virginia Causey addressed the topic of last battle status in an article in the local ''Ledger-Enquirer'' paper. She suggested that this status was based on myth, according to a 45-page report prepared by the Department of the Interior in 1934. In 2015 Daniel Bellware rebutted her account in his article "How Columbus Lost the Last Battle of the Civil War."Daniel Bellware,
How Columbus Lost the Last Battle of the Civil War
" ''Muscogiana'', Columbus, GA: Columbus State University, Spring 2015 Bellware said that the report had numerous factual errors, has no date and credits no author calling into question its attribution to the Department of the Interior. The report argues that the engagement in Columbus, which included major generals and thousands of combatants on both sides, does not rise to the level of a battle. However, it concludes that Palmito Ranch, a much smaller engagement with colonels commanding and a few hundred combatants, should be ranked as the last battle of the war. The report refers to former Confederate President Jefferson Davis's account in his book ''The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government''. Bellware said that it might be more appropriate to rank the Battle of Columbus as “the last major military engagement of the Civil War,” to avoid the argument of whether a particular engagement qualifies as a battle.

Representation in other media

*A reenactment of the battle was filmed in Columbus, Georgia in March 1915 for the movie ''The Spirit of Columbus 1865-1915''. lost film.">lost_film.html" ;"title=" lost film"> lost film.Several battle scenes were incorporated into a story of romance. The movie was screened during the Columbus Homecoming festivities on April 14–17, 1915 to commemorate the battle's fiftieth anniversary.

References

Sources

J. David Dameron, "The Battle of Columbus, April 16-17, 1865"
Southeast Research Publishing, LLC, 2017
Charles A. Misulia, ''Columbus, Georgia, 1865: The Last True Battle of the Civil War''
, University of Alabama Press, 2010
Richard Gardiner, "The Last Battle of the Civil War and Its Preservation"
''Journal of America's Military Past'' XXXVIII (Spring/Summer 2013), pp. 5–22.
J. David Dameron, "Horace King: From Slave to Master Builder and Legislator"
Southeast Research Publishing, LLC, 2017
Charles Jewett Swift, "The Last Battle of the Civil War at Columbus, Georgia"
''Journal of the Military Service Institution'', Vol. 56, p. 359
James Pickett Jones "Yankee Blitzkrieg: Wilson's Raid Through Alabama and Georgia"

University of Georgia Press The University of Georgia Press or UGA Press is the university press of the University of Georgia, a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia. It is the oldest and largest publishing house in Georgia and a me ...

, 1976, pp. 126–144. *Daniel Bellware, "The Last Battle. Period. Really.", ''Civil War Times Illustrated'' Vol. 42, April 2003.

External links

Charles Swift, "The Last Battle of the Civil War"
Rootsweb
"The Battle of Columbus"
WRBL News Report

Explore Southern History.com

Civil War Album
"The Last True Battle of The Civil War" —Presentation
Muscogee Genealogy Society
Alva C. Smith Collection
Columbus State University Archives (Box 39 includes correspondence related to request for a monument) {{DEFAULTSORT:Columbus Battles in 1865 1865 in the American Civil War 1865 in Alabama 1865 in Georgia (U.S. state) Battles of the Western Theater of the American Civil War Wilson's Raid Battle of Russell County, Alabama Union victories of the American Civil War Battles of the American Civil War in Alabama Battles of the American Civil War in Georgia (U.S. state) April 1865 in the United States