Wilson's Raiders - Montgomery, Alabama
Posted by: 
xptwo
N 32° 22.893 W 086° 20.721
16S E 561578 N 3582917
Major General James Wilson led his Union cavalry troops through Alabama into Georgia during the last weeks of the American Civil War.
Waymark Code: WME4V1
Location: Alabama, United States
Date Posted: 04/03/2012
Views: 11
In March, 1865, General Ulysses Grant appointed 27 year old Major General James Wilson to sweep through Alabama into Georgia on a raid to destroy factories and military supplies. After the Union forces defeated the Confederates in Selma, they moved to Montgomery, reaching the capital on April 12, 1865. The marker is located on Maxwell Air Force Base near Channault Circle.
The following is from the Encyclopedia of Alabama: (
visit link)
"As news of Selma's destruction spread to nearby Montgomery, state officials and residents fled. Governor Thomas H. Watts evacuated Montgomery and relocated the state government to Eufaula. The only Confederate forces left to defend the city, Confederate general Dan Adams's state militia, were ordered to relocate to Columbus, Georgia, to defend the naval works and munitions stores, thereby leaving the former Confederate capital defenseless. On April 12 Wilson and his men occupied the city, which he largely spared. Union soldiers destroyed the city's arsenal, train depot, foundries, rolling mills, niter works, several riverboats, and railroad cars during his two-day occupation, leaving the state capital and private dwellings intact. Wilson then headed eastward toward Columbus, Georgia, where on April 16, his forces captured that city after a brief skirmish. He learned of Lee's surrender after the capture of Columbus while en route to Macon."