Battle of Coffeeville

• MG = Major General
• BG = Brigadier General
• Col = Colonel
• Ltc = Lieutenant Colonel
• Maj = Major
• Cpt = Captain

Cavalry, Army of the Tennessee – Col Theophilus Lyle Dickey

1st Corps, Army of West Tennessee – MG Mansfield Lovell

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Outside of Coffeeville, the Confederate command decided to ambush the harassing enemy cavalry. On December 5, under the command of Brigadier General Lloyd Tilghman, the men of Baldwin, Tilghman and Rust's brigades with artillery and support from W. H. Jackson's units, hid on a wooded ridge alongside the Water Valley-Coffeeville Road.

Around 2:30 pm, the Union Cavalry (led by Colonel Theophilus Lyle Dickey) approached Coffeeville within one mile. When the Cavalry was within 50 yards of the Confederate positions, it was fired upon by artillery, followed by volleys of infantry fire.

According to letters sent from James Thompson, a member of the Union cavalry, to his wife, Charlotte, James was positioned behind Colonel Dickey in the column. He states that during the charge, Colonel Dickey was shot three times and that one of the orderlies was shot four times. Thompson fell off of his horse and was held prisoner before attempting to escape on another horse, which the Confederates shot. He promptly found a third horse and made his escape "without a scratch."^[5]

After the skirmish, the Confederates pushed the Union Cavalry back about three miles to the head of Grant's column. The pursuit halted and the Confederates returned to the ambush site. The Union Cavalry retreated to Water Valley. The fighting lasted from around 4 pm until dark.^[1] The Battle of Coffeeville brought Grant's Mississippi invasion via Tennessee to a halt. He pulled his army back to Oxford.

34°00′13″N 89°38′54″W / 34.003746°N 89.648218°W / 34.003746; -89.648218