Battle of Day's Gap
The Battle of Day's Gap was a Civil War battle fought on April 30, 1863 at Day's Gap through Sand Mountain in Cullman County. It was the first of a series of skirmishes between Union forces commanded by Colonel Abel Streight and Confederate's following Brigadier General Nathan Bedford Forrest.
Forrest's mission was to hamper Streight's Raid through Northern Alabama toward Rome, Georgia. The raiders were planning to disable the Western & Atlantic Railroad, which was supplying General Braxton Bragg's army in Middle Tennessee. Streight's forces arrived from Nashville via Eastport, Mississippi and marched out of Tuscumbia on April 26 with troops under the command of Brigadier General Grenville Dodge engaged in screening maneuvers.
Forrest's men engaged Streight's forces from the rear as they crossed Sand Mountain. The attack was repulsed and the Union army continued its march. Further skirmishes occurred at Crooked Creek and Hog Mountain on April 30, at Blountsville on May 1, at Black Creek near Gadsden and at Blount's Plantation on May 2. Forrest eventually succeeded in surrounding Streight's forces three miles east of Cedar Bluff on May 3, forcing their surrender. The raiders were captured and taken to Libby Prison in Richmond, from where Streight later managed to escape.
References
- National Park Service battle description
- Update to the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission Report on the Nation's Civil War Battlefields - State of Alabama