In April 1863, Tuscumbia became part of a major Union operation during the Civil War.
An old engraving captioned “Tuscumbia, Ala., One of the Scenes of Colonel Grierson’s Exploits” makes it sound as though Colonel Benjamin Grierson rode through town. He did not. His famous raid passed through Mississippi.
The Tuscumbia Civil War Raid was instead tied to Union forces under Brigadier General Grenville Dodge and Colonel Abel Streight, who used Tuscumbia as a staging point for an eastward raid into Georgia.
Streight reached Tuscumbia on April 24, 1863, gathering men, supplies, and mounts. His command became famous because many of the roughly 1,500 soldiers rode mules instead of horses.
The force left Tuscumbia late on April 26. Confederate cavalry commander Nathan Bedford Forrest soon began pursuing them across Alabama. After several days of fighting, Forrest trapped Streight near Rome, Georgia. On May 3, Streight surrendered.
Although Grierson never actually raided Tuscumbia, the town was part of the same broad Union diversion designed to distract Confederate forces while Ulysses S. Grant moved against Vicksburg.
For a few days in April 1863, the Tuscumbia Civil War Raid placed the Shoals directly inside one of the Union Army’s largest strategic diversions of the war.
