BATTLE SUMMARY
Conflict near Columbia, during Lt. Gen. John B. Hood's Tennessee invasion, constituted a Confederate diversion as part of a maneuver designed to cross the Duck River upstream and interdict the Union army's line of communications with Nashville. As Hood's army advanced northeastward from Florence, Alabama, Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield's force quickly withdrew from Pulaski to Columbia, arriving on November 24, just ahead of Brig. Gen. Nathan B. Forrest's Confederate cavalry.