The Longest Day

Lore & Background

The goal of Streight's raid was to cut off the Western & Atlantic Railroad, which supplied General Braxton Bragg's Confederate army in Middle Tennessee. Starting in Nashville, Tennessee, Streight and his men first traveled to Eastport, Mississippi, and then eastward to Tuscumbia, Alabama. On April 26, 1863, Streight left Tuscumbia and marched southeastward. Streight's initial movements were screened by Union Brig. Gen. Grenville Dodge's troops.

In Their Own Story

On April 30 at Day's Gap on Sand Mountain, Forrest caught up with Streight's expedition and attacked his rear guard. Streight's men in the rolling hills awaited in force behind each rise. Forrest demanded that Gould should bring the artillery up. Streight's men then surprise attacked from a hidden position of a rise in the hill. Gould's men were outnumbered and forced to leave their artillery pieces. Streight's men bought the time they needed attacking and as a result they continued their march to avoid any further delays and envelopments caused by the Confederate troops.

Reader's Guide

This battle set off a chain of skirmishes and engagements at Crooked Creek (April 30), Hog Mountain (April 30), Blountsville (May 1), Black Creek/Gadsden (May 2), and Blount's Plantation (May 2). Finally, on May 3, Forrest surrounded Streight's exhausted men 3 mi east of Cedar Bluff, Alabama, and forced their surrender. They were sent to Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia. Streight and some of his men escaped on February 9, 1864. The battle also led indirectly to the death of Confederate Lieutenant A. Wills Gould, as an artillery officer who was known for his gallantry in his two years of service. Gould went to Forrest's HQ tent to beg him off of the reassignment but Forrest in his typical manner again started berating him. Forrest witnesses said was cussing him a blue streak. Gould argued in was an impossible task he attempted to perform for Forrest. It immediately became a heated argument. The sequence of event's is unclear as eye witnesses visually could not see the event's unfold. Forrest emerged with a bullet in his abdomen while Gould suffered a stab wound to the lung proving fatal. June 14, 1863, in which Gould was killed. In any event, asking for an artillery officer to limber and unlimber repeatedly in rolling hills was ineffective practice.

Did You Know?

• The Battle of Day's Gap was fought on April 30, 1863, and was the first skirmish in a series lasting until May 2, known as Streight's Raid.
• Union forces were commanded by Col. Abel Streight, while Confederate forces were led by Brig. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest.
• The goal of Streight's raid was to cut off the Western & Atlantic Railroad, which supplied General Braxton Bragg's Confederate army in Middle Tennessee.
• Streight and some of his men escaped from Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia, on February 9, 1864.
• The battle indirectly led to the death of Confederate Lieutenant A. Wills Gould on June 14, 1863, after a heated argument with Forrest.