May 17, 1864
Both Civil War engagements fought in and around Madison
occurred during unusual weather. The one
of December 23, 1864, at Indian Creek where Old Madison Pike crosses the water
and along the campus of Madison Academy at Slaughter Road, was fought on one of
the coldest days of a severely cold winter.
It was so cold that not only did the creek freeze over, but guns were of
little use because no one could use their fingers adequately to reload after
firing. It was largely a saber
fight. However, artillery and guns were
the weapons of the day when much warmer weather prevailed for the conflict that
occurred on May 17, 1864.
Both
engagements began at dawn as surprise attacks on the entrenched forces. The December Union attack started near the
Indian Creek railroad bridge and continued west toward the town. The May Confederate attack began in the town
and continued east along the tracks to the Indian Creek railroad bridge. May brought a Confederate rout of Federal
forces, whereas the December struggle was a Union rout of rebel forces. The December fight involved frozen water as a
factor. The May fight involved liquid
water as a factor, because it was raining so hard that the combatants could
barely see their opposition. The Union
accounts described the December event as a “grand victory”, reportedly
involving far more rebels than could possibly have been present. Some of the official reports claimed that 200
Union troops attacked a rebel force of 600, whereas more realistic descriptions
show that a maximum of 150 rebels were surprised by over 300 Federals. Yet, the official Union accounts of the May
event term it as simply as an “affair” -- not even worthy of being called a
battle. However, the May attack by the
rebel forces included four artillery pieces and over 1000 troops against a
force of about 350 Federals who occupied the town of Madison.
Confederate reports are sparse from those last months of the
war, but there are numerous documents of the engagement preserved in Union
accounts. The most descriptive Union
reports were filed by Colonel Gorgas of the 13th Illinois
Infantry. He first told that a cavalry
force of about 1,000 with four artillery pieces attacked on May 17 about 8
o'clock in the morning. When General
John Smith reported the engagement a day later, he stated that Madison Station
had been attacked at 8 a.m. from all directions by a large force, numbering
about 1,000 to 3,000 men with four pieces of artillery. Gorgas recounted that “...we were obliged to
fall back, after a severe fight, and, being completely surrounded, we cut our
way through their lines, and fell back to the bridge and water tank, about
three miles east. We formed and returned
to this place (Madison), and, after skirmishing, drove them from the town. They captured several of our men, what number
we are not able to say. Our camp and garrison
equipage, together with all the regimental and company papers, are either
destroyed or carried off. The depot
buildings are burned, together with about 50 bales of cotton. (He said 70 bales in a later report.) The railroad is all right, telegraph lines
cut. We are left here without rations,
and but little ammunition.”
A much more detailed account of the engagement was filed by
Gorgas a day or so later. In it, he
specified that the artillery consisted of “four 12-pounder howitzers”. He wrote that the attacking force was under
the command of Colonel Josiah Patterson and included “two regiments of mounted
infantry”. He blamed the successful
surprise upon local citizens guiding the rebels to the locations of his five
pickets, who were then overwhelmed before they could sound the alarm. In fact, subsequently the Union occupiers
arrested Madison residents Dr. Richard Matthew Fletcher, Edward Betts, and
James Harvey Pride. They were taken into
Huntsville to be tried and hanged as spies for complicity in the event. After a gallows was constructed, a
recently-transferred and remotely-located but friendly senior Union officer who
knew that Dr. Fletcher had compassionately treated Federal soldiers during the
occupation years came to Huntsville and had the men released.
