Move to
Selma and Montgomery
On the 30th of March General Wilson's cavalry reached Elyton, after an extremely
difficult, toilsome, and exhausting march, on account of bad roads, swollen
streams, and the rough nature of the country, which had also been almost
entirely stripped of all subsistence for man or beast. At Elyton, Croxton's
brigade, of McCook's division, was detached and sent to capture and destroy
Tuscaloosa, and then march to rejoin the main body near Selma. With the
remainder of his command, General Wilson pushed rapidly forward to Montevallo,
where he destroyed five extensive iron-works, and other valuable property. On
the outskirts of the town, the enemy's cavalry was found in force, attacked,
routed, and pursued through Plantersville, leaving in our possession three
pieces of artillery and several hundred prisoners. 
At 3
P.M. on the 2nd of April
General Wilson reached the immediate vicinity of Selma, and rapidly formed
Upton's and Long's divisions to attack the defenses of the town--Long attacking
on the Summerfield road, and Upton across a swamp deemed impassable by the
enemy. Dismounting two regiments from each of the brigades of Colonels Miller
and Minty, General Long and those two officers gallantly leading their men in
person, charged across an open field, 500 yards wide, over a stockade, which
they tore up as they passed, through the ditch and over the enemy's parapets,
sweeping everything before them. Our loss was 46 killed and 200 wounded; Colonel
Dobb, Fourth Ohio, among the former, and General Long and Colonels Miller and
McCormick among the latter.
General Upton met with less resistance than
Long--entered the enemy's works and the town, capturing many prisoners. In the
darkness and confusion following the assault Generals Forrest, Buford, Adams,
Armstrong, and others made their escape. Lieut. Gen. Dick Taylor had left
earlier in the afternoon. As the fruits of the victory, however, there remained
26 guns and 2,700 prisoners, besides large amounts of ordnance and other
property of great value. Twenty-five thousand bales of cotton had already been
destroyed by the enemy. General Wilson remained at Selma from the 2nd to the 10th
of April, resting his command and completing the destruction of the immense
workshops, arsenals, and foundries, and waiting for Croxton to rejoin from his
expedition to Tuscaloosa, it having been ascertained, through the enemy, that he
captured Tuscaloosa and was moving to Selma via Eutaw.
On the 10th, General
Wilson crossed the Alabama River and moved toward Montgomery, receiving the
surrender of that town, without a contest, on the 12th. The enemy burned 85,000
bales of cotton before evacuating. At Montgomery five steam-boats, several
locomotives, one armory, and several foundries were destroyed. On the 14th
operations were resumed by Upton's division moving through Mount Meigs and
Tuskegee toward Columbus, Georgia., and Colonel LaGrange, with three regiments of
his brigade, of McCook's division, marching along the railroad to West Point via
Opelika.
