[3] At 4:00 a.m. on August 21, 1864, Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest made a daring raid on Union-held Memphis, Tennessee, but it was not an attempt to capture the city, which was occupied by 6,000 Federal troops.

Taking advantage of a thick dawn fog and claiming to be a Union patrol returning with prisoners, the Confederates eliminated the sentries.

During the raid, another—General Cadwallader C. Washburn—escaped to Fort Pickering dressed in his night-shirt after John Alexander Bryan of Co I, 15th Tennessee Cavalry, captured his horse.

[7] The attack on Irving Block Prison also failed when Union troops stalled the main body at the State Female College.

After two hours, Forrest decided to withdraw, cutting telegraph wires and taking 500 prisoners along with large quantities of supplies, including many horses.