BATTLE SUMMARY
From Vicksburg, Mississippi, Sherman launched a campaign to take the important railroad center at Meridian, Mississippi, and if the situation were favorable, to push on to Selma, Alabama, and threaten Mobile. Sherman ordered Brig. Gen. William Sooy Smith to lead a cavalry force of 7,000 men from Memphis, Tennessee, on February 1, south through Okolona, along the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, and to meet the rest of the Union force at Meridian, on the 10th. With the main force of approximately 20,000 men, Sherman set out on the 3rd for Meridian, but made feints on various other locations.