Collierville

On November 3, 1863 while conducting cavalry raids to break up the Memphis & Charleston Railroad behind Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s XV Army Corps, Confederate Brig. Gen. James R. Chalmers, leading a cavalry division from Mississippi, learned that only two Union regiments defended Collierville. However, Union Col. Edward Hatch possessed more men than Chalmers supposed, stationed at Collierville and at Germantown. Scouts warned Hatch of Chalmers’s approach, so he ordered Collierville’s defenders to be prepared and rode from Germantown with cavalry reinforcements. Chalmers, as he had done only three weeks earlier, attacked from the south. Surprised by the unexpected appearance of Hatch on his flanks, Chalmers concluded that he was outnumbered, called off the battle, withdrew back to Mississippi. The Memphis & Charleston Railroad subsequently remained open to Tuscumbia, Alabama, for Union troop movements.