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dispatches informed him that
Forrest was now on his front in heavy force; that one of that leader's divisions, under
General Jackson, was moving easterly from
Tuscaloosa, with all the wagons and artillery of the Confederate cavalry; and that
General Croxton, on his way from
Elyton, had struck
Jackson's rearguard at
Trion, and interposed himself between it and
Forrest's train.
Informed, also, by the intercepted dispatch, that
Jackson was about to fight
Croxton, and from a subsequent dispatch from the latter to himself, that, instead of going on to
Tuscaloosa, he should endeavor to fight
Jackson and prevent his joining
Forrest,
Wilson ordered
McCook to move rapidly, with
La Grange's brigade, to
Centreville, cross the
Cahawba there, and push on by way of
Scottsville to assist
Croxton in breaking up
Jackson's column.
McCook found
Jackson at
Scottsville, well posted, with intrenchments covering his column.
Croxton had not come up, and he could hear nothing of him. Feeling too weak to attack the
Confederates, he skirmished with them a little, burned a factory at
Scottsville, and then fell back.
He destroyed the bridge over the
Cahawba, at
Centreville, and rejoined
Wildon at
Selma.
Wilson pushed southward from
Randolph with the brigades of Long and
Upton, and at-Ebenezer Church, near
Boyle's Creek, six miles north of
Plantersville, he was confronted by
Forrest who had five thousand men behind a strong barricade and
abatis.
Forrest was straining every nerve to reach and defend
Selma, which was one of the most important places in the
Confederacy, on account of its immense founderies of cannon and projectiles.
Wilson advanced to the attack at once.
Long's division, on the right, struck the first blow.
Dismounting most of his men,he made a charge so heavy and irresistible, that it broke
Forrest's line.
Four mounted companies of the Seventeenth Indiana, under
Lieutenant White, being ordered forward, dashed over the guns of the foe, into their midst, and cut their way out with a loss of seventeen men.
General Alexander, then leading
Upton's division, on hearing the sounds of battle, pressed forward, came up in fine order, dismounted and deployed his own brigade, and dashed into the
fight with such vigor, that the
Confederates were routed, and fled in confusion toward
Selma, leaving behind them two guns and two hundred prisoners in the hands of
Alexander, and one gun as a trophy for Long.
Winslow's brigade followed them as far as
Plantersville, nineteen miles from
Selma, where the chase ceased, and the victors bivouacked.
Forrest had been driven on that day
twenty-four miles.
