Qualla: Battle of Selma https://qualla.com/battle-of-selma en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:13 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/f/0/battle-of-selma-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Battle of Selma https://qualla.com/battle-of-selma Battle of Selma: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-selma/ Photo credit Unidentified photographer, Public domain. Nathan Bedford Forrest arrived at Selma on the morning of April 2, 1865, horse and rider covered in blood. He had been wounded by a saber the day before at Ebenezer Church, then killed his attacker with a revolver - one of thirty men he would claim in personal combat during the war. Now he had a city to defend with 2,000 exhausted troops, many of them old men and boys from the Alabama militia, against 9,000 well-armed Union cavalrymen carrying seven-shot Spencer repeating rifles. The fortifications were formidable - three miles of earthworks, eight to twelve feet high, anchored on the Alabama River - but the men behind them were spread so thin that five to ten feet separated each defender. By nightfall, Selma would fall, and with it the Confederacy's last great arsenal in the Deep South.

Read more: Battle of Selma on Qualla

Image: Unidentified photographer | Public domain

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/f/0/battle-of-selma-wp/djf0-battle-of-selma-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Selma: The Arsenal on the River https://qualla.com/battle-of-selma/ Photo credit American Battlefield Protection Program, Public domain. Selma was no ordinary Southern town. By 1865, it had become the Confederacy's second-most important industrial center after Richmond. The city's arsenal, naval foundry, and eleven iron works churned out the cannons, ammunition, and ironclad components that kept Confederate armies...

Read more: Battle of Selma on Qualla

Image: American Battlefield Protection Program | Public domain

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/f/0/battle-of-selma-wp/djf0-battle-of-selma-the-arsenal-on-the-river.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Selma: The Running Fight https://qualla.com/battle-of-selma/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Wilson was methodical and ruthless. He detached a brigade to destroy Confederate property at Tuscaloosa, then captured a courier carrying dispatches that revealed the exact strength and positions of Forrest's scattered forces. Armed with this intelligence, Wilson sent troops to c...

Read more: Battle of Selma on Qualla

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/f/0/battle-of-selma-wp/djf0-battle-of-selma-the-running-fight.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Selma: Thirty Minutes of Fury https://qualla.com/battle-of-selma/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Wilson's plan called for a coordinated night attack, but war rarely follows the script. At 5 p.m., Confederate forces attacked Wilson's ammunition train in the rear. General Eli Long, positioned across the Summerfield Road, decided to assault the fortifications immediately rather...

Read more: Battle of Selma on Qualla

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/f/0/battle-of-selma-wp/djf0-battle-of-selma-thirty-minutes-of-fury.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Selma: Escape in the Darkness https://qualla.com/battle-of-selma/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Hundreds of Confederates surrendered, but hundreds more fled through the night down the Burnsville Road. Forrest, Armstrong, and Roddey escaped in the chaos. To the west, retreating soldiers fought their way to Valley Creek and swam the Alabama River to freedom. During his escape...

Read more: Battle of Selma on Qualla

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/f/0/battle-of-selma-wp/djf0-battle-of-selma-escape-in-the-darkness.mp3 0:06 5 full Battle of Selma: The War's Last Breath https://qualla.com/battle-of-selma/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Selma proved that even Forrest, considered by many the most dangerous cavalry commander in either army, could not stop what was coming. Wilson's raiders left the smoldering city and marched on to Montgomery, fought at Columbus on Easter Sunday, and pushed east to Macon, Georgia, ...

Read more: Battle of Selma on Qualla

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/f/0/battle-of-selma-wp/djf0-battle-of-selma-the-wars-last-breath.mp3 0:06 6 full