December 20, 1862 – Confederates Raid the Union Garrison at Holly Springs, Mississippi

December 20, 1862.

Union troops stationed at Holly Springs, Mississippi under the command of General US Grant were overrun by Confederate Cavalry lead by General Earl Van Dorn.

Grant’s sleeping army was aroused to the Rebel Yells of the Confederates and caught completely off guard.

The Rebels captured, killed, or drove out the entire Union garrison at Holly Springs and confiscated stock piles upon stock piles of ammunition, weapons, clothing, medicine, and rations.

The Confederates kept as much as they could carry, and then burned or blew up anything they could not. Many buildings, hospitals, communication offices, and the train depot were destroyed. Much of Holly Springs was reduced to rubble.

Van Dorn captured over 1,500 Union soldiers and destroyed over $1,500,000 of supplies and buildings. (That’s over $66,000,000 today!)

On this day, the Rebels road away from Holly Springs as the best equipped cavalry in the entire Confederacy.

Grant, who was headquartered in Oxford, initially suspected Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest as the perpetrator. He was surprised to learn that Van Dorn was responsible. Grant’s army was completely taken off guard.

For the 40,000 Union troops stationed in the Oxford area, the raid at Holly Springs cut off their supply line and communications. When the news of the attack reached Oxford, it caused a great deal of rejoicing and gloating by the locals.

Grant later wrote in his memoirs: “They came with broad smiles on their faces indicating intense joy, to ask what I was going to do now without any for my soldiers to eat. I told them I was not disturbed; that I had already sent troops and wagons to collect all the food and forage they could find fifteen miles on each side of the road. Countenances soon changed, and so did the inquiry. The next was, “What are WE to do?”

Grant and the Army of the Tennessee slowly began their retreat from North Mississippi and pulled back to Memphis. As Grant’s troops left Oxford, he ordered the train depot and telegraph office burned.

Van Dorn’s raid on Holly Springs was the pinnacle of his military career and it effectively ended General Grant’s expedition into North Central Mississippi.

Although the burning of Holly Springs was a great Confederate victory and a terrible defeat for the Union, General Grant learned that his army could live off the land instead of relying totally on supply lines. This realization changed Union strategy for the rest of the Civil War.

Van Dorn’s raid and the burning of Holly Springs happened 152 years ago today, December 20, 1862.