Qualla: Grierson's Raid

Grierson's Raid: Introduction

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Andrew David Lytle Sr., Public domain. The man Ulysses Grant chose to ride through the heart of Mississippi hated horses. Colonel Benjamin Grierson had been kicked in the head by one as a child, and the experience left him with a lifelong aversion to the animals that would define his most famous exploit. On April 17, 1863, Grierson led 1,700 cavalrymen out of La Grange, Tennessee, and pointed them south into enemy territory. Over the next sixteen days, they would ride the entire length of Mississippi, from the Tennessee border to Union-held Baton Rouge, Louisiana, tearing through a state that no Union soldier had crossed before. The raid was a diversion, designed to pull Confederate attention away from Grant's main thrust against Vicksburg. It worked beyond anyone's expectations.

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Image: Andrew David Lytle Sr. | Public domain

Grierson's Raid: The Music Teacher on Horseback

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Edward Jacobs of New Orleans, Public domain. The idea for a deep cavalry strike through Mississippi originated with Major General Charles Hamilton, who commanded the Union's Corinth sector. Hamilton eventually resigned over a dispute about command assignments, and Grant accepted the resignation without hesitation. But the c...

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Image: Edward Jacobs of New Orleans | Public domain

Grierson's Raid: Sixteen Days Through Hostile Ground

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Andrew David Lytle Sr., Public domain. Grierson's troopers rode south from Tennessee through the length of Mississippi, some wearing Confederate uniforms as scouts for the main column. They tore up railroads and burned crossties, freed enslaved people, destroyed Confederate storehouses, wrecked locomotives, ripped apa...

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Image: Andrew David Lytle Sr. | Public domain

Grierson's Raid: A Garrison That Could Not Respond

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Andrew David Lytle Sr., Public domain. Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton commanded the Confederate garrison at Vicksburg, dug in behind heavily fortified trenches on the east bank of the Mississippi River. Pemberton had few cavalry of his own and could do nothing to stop Grierson from rampaging through the state's ...

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Image: Andrew David Lytle Sr. | Public domain

Grierson's Raid: The Diversion That Changed the War

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Andrew David Lytle Sr., Public domain. Grierson's men reached Baton Rouge on May 2, 1863, having completed one of the most remarkable cavalry operations of the Civil War. The raid did exactly what Grant needed: it blinded and distracted the Confederate defenders of Vicksburg during the critical weeks when Grant was ma...

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Image: Andrew David Lytle Sr. | Public domain