Following three days of engaging Confederate Cavalry numbering about 1,000 men commanded by Col. Jacob Biffle, 250 men of the Second Tennessee Mounted Infantry, USA under Col. John Murphy found themselves sheltering in Centerville at the courthouse that had been turned into a fortress by the U.S. troops occupying the town. Murphy determined to return to his post on the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad by crossing the Duck River north of town at a ford. Upon crossing, the Union troops came under heavy fire losing 15 men killed, wounded or captured.