9. 14th Street Bridge (Civil War Skirmish).

9. 14th Street Bridge (Civil War Skirmish).

Late in the war, on April 16th, 1865, Union General James Wilson arrived on the west side of Girard, now Phenix City, Alabama. Having taken the cities of Selma and Montgomery, Wilson planned an attack on one of the major industrial hubs in the South, Columbus, Georgia that had been protected until that point by its extreme southern location. In a rare night confrontation, Confederate and Union forces met at the gun emplacements and small forts stretched along the Alabama side of the river. Both forces made a headlong run for the 14th Street Bridge at the same time. The confederates in retreat tried to get back to Georgia and the federals trying to capture the bridge to prevent its destruction. The final confrontation happened in front of the bridge on the Georgia side. In a hectic haze of battle and with little illumination, soldiers could not tell Union from Confederate, and Wilson took both the bridge and the city shortly before midnight. Wilson destroyed war-related industries and this skirmish was one of the last confrontations between Union and Confederate soldiers in the Civil War.
Worsley, E. (Summer-1954), "Board of Regents of the University of the University System of Georgia", The Georgia Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 218-227.

1st picture: Map of the General J.H. Wilson’s Cavalry Campaign, Alabama and Georgia, March and April, 1865. (Courtesy Columbus State University Archives).
2nd picture: Portrait of Union General J.H. Wilson, (Courtesy Columbus State University Archives).