GENERAL WILSON’S EXPEDITION IN ALABAMA.
March 22-April 20, 1865.
When General Canby received orders in January to advance from the forts in Mobile Bay, and attack Mobile, he was also instructed to dispatch an expedition under General Wilson into the interior of Alabama, where the rebels maintained several important towns, which were garrisoned by forces of some magnitude.
The expedition under command of Brevet Major-General Wilson consisted of twelve thousand five hundred mounted men. It was delayed by rains until March 22, when it moved from Chickasaw, Alabama. On the 1st of April General Wilson encountered the enemy in force under Forrest near Ebenezer Church, drove him in confusion, captured three hundred prisoners and three guns, and destroyed the central bridge over the Catawba river. On the 2d he attacked and captured the fortified city of Selma, defended by Forrest with seven thousand men and thirty-two guns, destroyed the arsenal, armory, naval foundry, machine shops, vast quantities of stores, and captured three thousand prisoners. On the 4th he captured and destroyed Tuscaloosa. On the 10th he crossed the Alabama river, and after sending information of his operations to General Canby, marched on Montgomery, which place he occupied on the 14th, the enemy having abandoned it. At this place many stores and five steamboats fell into Federal hands. Thence a force marched direct on Columbus, and another on West Point, both of which places were assaulted and captured on the 16th. At the former place General Wilson captured fifteen hundred prisoners and fifty-two field guns, destroyed two gunboats, the navy yard, foundries, arsenal, many factories, and much other public property. At the latter place General Wilson took three hundred prisoners, four guns, and destroyed nineteen locomotives and three hundred cars. On the 20th he took possession of Macon, Georgia, with sixty field guns, twelve hundred militia, and five generals, surrendered by General Howell Cobb. General Wilson, hearing that Jeff Davis was trying to make his escape, sent forces in pursuit, and succeeded in capturing him on the morning of May 11.
On the 4th day of May, General Dick Taylor surrendered to General Canby all the remaining rebel forces east of the Mississippi.
A force sufficient to insure an easy triumph over the enemy under Kirby Smith, west of the Mississippi, was at once put in motion for Texas, and Major-General Sheridan designated for its immediate command; but on the 26th day of May, and before they reached their destination, General Kirby Smith surrendered his entire command to Major-General Canby. This surrender did not take place, however, until after the capture of the rebel President and Vice-President; and not till after General Smith had disbanded a large portion of his army, and permitted an indiscriminate plunder of public property.
Owing to the fact that many of those lately in arms against the government had taken refuge upon the soil of Mexico, carrying with them arms rightfully belonging to the United States, which had been surrendered by agreement to the Federal commanders, General Grant deemed it essential that a large army should be maintained in Texas. The unsettled state of the Mexican country on the Rio Grande at that time, also rendered this course necessary. Many of the leaders in the late rebel armies, who had surrendered and given their parole, had also taken refuge in Mexican territory, feeling distrustful of their personal safety at the hands of the Federal authorities.