Confederate cavalry commander Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest culminated a 23-day raid through western Tennessee by attacking the Union supply base at Johnsonville.

As a result, Thomas's army was hampered in its plan to defeat Confederate Lieutenant General John Bell Hood's invasion of Tennessee, known as the Franklin–Nashville campaign.

[3] Lieutenant General Richard Taylor ordered Forrest on a wide-ranging cavalry raid through Western Tennessee to destroy the Union supply line to Nashville.

The Federals dispatched six more gunboats from Paducah, Kentucky, and on November 3 they engaged in artillery duels with strong Confederate positions on either end of Reynoldsburg Island, near Johnsonville.

The Federal fleet had difficulty attempting to subdue these positions and were occupied as Forrest prepared his force for the attack on Johnsonville.

Fitch was reluctant to take his Paducah gunboats through the narrow channel between Reynoldsburg Island and the western bank, so limited himself to long-range fire.

Colored Troops, "Apparently the only sustained resistance came from one of the black regiments, armed with repeating rifles, whose officers claimed that their men prevented Forrest's raiders from crossing the river and destroying the entire facility.

... Having completed the work designed for the expedition, I moved my command six miles during the night by the light of the enemy's burning property.

An additional consequence of the raid was that the Union high command became increasingly nervous about Sherman's plan to move through Georgia instead of confronting Hood and Forrest directly.

Forrest's command, delayed by heavy rains, proceeded to Perryville, Tennessee, and eventually reached Corinth, Mississippi, on November 10, 1864.

Hood elected to delay his advance from Tuscumbia, Alabama, north into Tennessee, until he could meet with Forrest, who arrived with his forces on November 16.

[11] The delay allowed Thomas time to prepare his defenses for the Battle of Nashville the following month, in which he repulsed the Confederate attempt to retake the city, a defeat that effectively ended the war in the Western Theater.