On This Day In Alabama History: Union Launched Largest Cavalry Raid Of Civil War

By Graydon Rust
Alabama 200

March 22, 1865

Union Gen. James H. Wilson launched the largest cavalry raid of the Civil War into central Alabama with about 13,500 troops. Targeting industrial facilities such as coal mines and ironworks, Wilson’s troops faced little resistance except for 5,000 cavalry troops under the command of Gen. Nathaniel Bedford Forrest, whom they defeated twice. In less than a month’s time, Wilson captured the important industrial cities of Montevallo, Tuscaloosa, Selma and Montgomery. The raid effectively destroyed Alabama’s ability to support the waning Confederacy with military supplies, but it had almost no effect on the outcome of the war, which was determined at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, on April 9.

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