The “first” battle of Memphis was a naval engagement on June 6, 1862 between the Union Mississippi River Squadron (Flag Officer Charles Davis) and the Confederate “River Defense Fleet” (James E. Montgomery). In the two-hour engagement all but one of the Confederate “cotton clads” were captured or destroyed resulting in the surrender of the City of Memphis and opening up the Mississippi River to Union transport and gunboats to Vicksburg.
Shelbyville
On June 27, 1863, Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg’s army was withdrawing from the vicinity of fortified Shelbyville and concentrating at