| Battle of Anderson | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Take Command War | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Union | Confederate States of America | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Phillip Sheridan | Stonewall Jackson | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| Army of the Cumberland | Army of Tennessee | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 6,000 | 5,016 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 882 | 537 | ||||||
The Battle of Anderson was the first battle of the Border Line Campaign. It was fought by Stonewall Jackson against Phillip Sheridan on February 6, 1861
Background[]
As war got underway, President Lincoln ordered Philip Sheridan to mobilize a small army to defeat General Lee. "Try to cause a little stire," he told the General. "Lee must be shaken." As Phillip Sheridan prepared, he brought 12 guns, and about 6,000 infantry. He decided to take no Calvary, as he proceeded in saying "Calvary can be easily spotted--we need this to be a surprise." The Army of Northern Virginia was encamped just 4 miles into the South. But, due to slow marching, by time Sherman had made about 25 miles, the Army of Northern Virginia had tranferred to Tennesee. In it's place, the Army of Tennessee moved just 3 miles into the South, and had nearly 400,000. Though, Stonewall Jackson had split up his army a bit and had sent 5,016 (Infantry, Calvary and Artillery) up to the border, 3 miles away from his main army.
Battle[]
At 9:07 a.m., Stonewall Jackson sent the 23rd Virginia about 400 yards South of his army's main position. Union scouts spotted it and sent information back to base. Sherman thus sent out 4 brigades, commanded by Joseph Chamberlain, over towards Jackson's defense forces. Meanwhile, Stonewall Jackson had deployed 15 artillery pieces on Cedar Ridge and sent out all 12 infantry brigades and 2 Calvary brigades out to battle. Seeing a oncoming threat, Chamberlain reported that Stonewall Jackson had sent out about 4,500 infantrysmen, compared to the 1,000 Chamberlain had. Sherman promised reinforcements, but Southern Calvary snuck behind lines and hampered and chance of brigades coming to Chamberlain rescue. Chamberlain sent out 3 brigades and kept 1 in reserve. He was in trouble, as his lines were cut off by Southern Calvary.
Chamberlain was going to have his reserve brigade attack Southern Calvary, but he remembered there were 4 batteries near the horses. So he ordered them to fire at the horses. Up at the front, Chamberlain's brigades were being ripped apart, as 2 fled for the hills and the other one was completely destroyed. With Southern Calvary out of the way, he ordered his reserve brigade back. Stonewall Jackson was going to attempt to destroy Chamberlain's reserve brigade, but Chamberlain's were near cannons. The Southern Calvary has been lightly destructed, but enough to force them to retreat. 2 brigades advanced upon Chamberlain's reserve brigade, but only did light damage. Jackson, realizing that they were now on Northern soil, decided to retreat back to the border line. With too much destruction, the North surrendered the 4 cannons but the remnants of the 2 brigades and the reserve brigade returned back to HQ. All in all, the South lost 537 soldiers (mostly from cannonfire) and the North had lost from 882 soldiers.
Aftermath[]
First battle of the war. This started the 3-day Border Line Campaign by Stonewall Jackson.