Sgt.Alexander E Brandon was a member of Company B, 4th Tennessee Cavalry, USA, part of an army under the Command of Gen. William Sooey Smith. Smith's army left Memphis early in February, 1864. His mission was to rendezvous with General William Tecumseh Sherman at Meridian, Mississippi while destroying everything in his path that he could. Smith encountered little resistance until he had advanced nearly half of the 250 miles from Memphis to Meridian. His 7000 troops had devastated crops, granaries, corn cribs and cotton gins for several miles on either side of their march.
Approximately 80 miles north of Meridian. at the town of West Point, General Nathan Bedford Forrest's small army of less than 2500 men waited. Forrest had been directed by his commanders, General Polk and S.D. Lee, to retreat in front of Smith's advance, thus drawing him further and further from his base and source of supplies, at Memphis, then turn on Smith's tired and short supplied army and endeavor to destroy it. The Federal army's advance was halted at Ellis' Bridge across the Sakatonchee River near West Point, Mississippi where the troops of General Forrest's brother, Colonel Jeffrey Forrest, fought until Smith's army started to retreat towards West Point. Seeing the Union forces starting to retreat, General Forrest directed several brigades to pursue them towards Okalona which lie about 30 miles north of West Point, while ordering his General Richardson, who was 12 miles west of West Point, to move his command towards Okalona to flank the retreating Yankees. He also ordered other troops toward Okalona to cut off the retreat.
Smith's army continued to flee before the Rebels and were not allowed to stop until midnight of February 21, just 3 miles south of Okalona. Meanwhile, General Forrest had moved his brother Jeffrey's forces to a position between Smith's army and Okalona. Before dawn of February 22, General Forrest attacked from the south, driving the Federals through the town of Okalona, until just beyond the town the Yanks reformed into battle lines and temporarily halted the Rebels. This halt was very short lived and soon the retreat resumed up the road from Okalona towards Pontotoc, 20 miles northwest of Okalona. As the retreat continued up the Pontotoc road, mile by mile, the Union troops would form battle lines and attempt to hold the Confederate troops long enough to allow their fleeing comrades to move the artillery pieces, wagons, and themselves further towards Memphis and safety. One such stand was taken about 10 miles west of Okalona at a place called Ivey's hill or Ivey's farm. In a charge that occured here, Colonel Jeffrey Forrest was shot and killed. General Forrest saw him fall, dismounted, knelt and held his brother's lifeless body, then remounted and proceeded to charge into hand to hand combat. The retreat continued on into the day of February 22 to a farm 2 miles north of the village of Troy. The farm is now known as the "Morrow Place" but was owned and occupied by Esquire William Rutledge at the time of the battle. The following account of the action was given by the daughter of William Rutledge, a Mrs. Whitten, who was present at the battle. Her account in turn is related by her son, Mr. J.A. Whitten, of Troy, Mississippi and is as follows;
"Mrs. Whitten was a daughter of Esquire William Rutledge, who at the time owned and lived at the Morrow place. Mrs. Whitten was an eye-witness of the facts of which I only give as incident. Instead of a skirmish or running fight, there was actually a battle of about two hours duration in the immediate vicinity of the Rutledge home. The fight was so hot and the outcome so doubtful that several women and aged citizens of the neighborhood that had gathered at the Rutledge home wanted the white flag raised from the roof of the house. General Forrest would not allow it done, assuring them that he and his soldiers would protect them , and that if they submitted to the Yankee soldiery, the entire country would be ravaged and pillaged. This counsel prevailed, and true to his word, General Forrest routed the enemy and drove them out of the neighborhood. After the battle, as my uncle George has stated, about eighty Federal soldiers were gathered up and interred in trenches along the road. However they were not buried in one trench. The dead were all Federal soldiers. But one Confederate seems to have been killed in this battle, and his body was interred in another place. The bodies were buried in their uniform, with their hats over their faces".
This account by Mrs. Whitten as told by her son is bound to contain some error and embellishment as most legends do, but according to the book, " Military History of Mississippi" and "History of the Fourth Tennessee Cavalry" by Alexander Eckel, it is a fairly accurate account. Other eye witness accounts state that several Confederates were killed and buried in the Okalona Confederate cemetery. Also, according to local history, most of the Union soldiers buried at the " Rutledge-Morrow" place were later exhumed and re-interred in Federal cemeteries or returned to their families. When the fighting ended at the Morrow place and vicinity the remains of the Union army continued their retreat towards Memphis, now pursued by General S.J. Gholson and his Mississippi State Militia troops and after a short time, they gave up the chase and allowed the Yankee forces to withdraw to Tennessee. The Confederate losses were 26 dead, 97 wounded, and 20 missing. The Union losses were 54 killed, 179 wounded, and 155 missing.
The United States War Department maintains records of burial sites for those killed but Alexander Brandon's place of interrment is not recorded. This leads me to believe that he is buried in an unmarked grave or under one of the many "Unknown U.S. Soldier" government headstones that I have located near the site of the Okalona battle. On one of my trips to the Okalona area I located, about 10 miles northwest of Okalona on State Highway 41, eleven government headstones marked "Unknown U.S. Soldier". They are on the north side of the highway, on the right of way, in the vicinity of the battle at Ivey's hill that I have previously mentioned.
Family legend as related to me by my Grandmother, Sue Brandon says that Alexander was retreating from the Rebels, riding a mule. The mule turned and bolted towards the enemy and Alexander was mortally wounded. Somehow his body was recovered by members of his cavalry unit and his personal effects were kept for return to his widow in East Tennessee. These items which include his jacket, which still has blood stains in the lining, were said to have been returned by a soldier named Baskett. I believe this to be Lieutenant George W. Baskett of Co. B 4th Tenn. Cav. who later married Alexander's sister, Eunicy.
Company B. 4th Tenn. Cav. had several of Alexander's close relatives in it's ranks: George W. Baskett, John B. Baskett, John R. Mullinix, Murrell Moore, Brazelton Moore, Amos Mullinix, Nathaniel Brandon, Isham Mullinix, Wm. H. Dykes, Endimyon Brandon[Alex's uncle], Endimyon Brandon[Alex's brother] and Ruben Baskett. Also a John McCary who was killed and his widow married Alexander's brother, James Miller Brandon.
Company H. 4th Tenn. Cav. also hosted some relatives: John H. Brandon, Carter Brandon, Geo. C. Dykes, John Netherland Dykes, and Franklin Brandon.
Commentary and photographs copyright 1999 by Keith Brandon ([email protected] ).
Last updated July 23, 1999.