The Union force commanded by Colonel James Henry Coates repulsed an attack led by Confederate Brigadier General Lawrence Sullivan Ross.

Sherman directed William Sooy Smith to strike south from Memphis, Tennessee with 7,000 Union cavalry and meet him at Meridian.

[2] Following orders from XVII Corps and additional instructions from General Sherman, Colonel Coates put his 947 soldiers aboard river transports at Vicksburg on January 31, 1864.

[8] The transports, escorted by five gunboats under Captain Elias K. Owen, reached the mouth of the Yazoo River that evening and took on enough fuel to last two weeks.

The flotilla turned into the Yazoo River and reached Haynes Bluff on the evening of February 1[9] where it picked up a recruiting detachment of 11 officers and 25 men from the 1st Mississippi Cavalry Regiment (African Descent) under Major Jeremiah B. Cook.

The next day, the expedition advanced 25 mi (40 km) up the river to Satartia where five companies of the 11th Illinois and the cavalry went ashore and chased some Confederates out of the village.

[13] On February 10 at Yazoo City,[14] Coates was joined by Colonel Embury D. Osband and five companies of the 1st Mississippi Cavalry (AD) which had marched overland.

Hawkins' force scouted 50 mi (80 km) east to the Big Black River but found no trace of Ross.

Seizing large numbers of cotton bales while descending the river, the expedition reached Yazoo City on February 28.

Coates also reported that Osband had successfully recruited enough men to nearly fill the 1st Mississippi Cavalry Regiment (AD), with each soldier mounted on a horse or mule.

[3] On March 4, 1864, Coates learned that Brigadier General Robert V. Richardson's Tennessee cavalry brigade, numbering 550 men, had joined Ross.

Six companies of the 8th Louisiana (AD) moved from their position south of town to assist, but they were steadily driven back into Yazoo City where they barricaded the main street with cotton bales.

For four hours, nine companies of the 11th Illinois under McKee in a redoubt and 80 men of the 1st Mississippi under Major Cook in rifle pits were isolated east of Yazoo City.

Ross sent a third demand, "I regret for the sake of humanity that you do not find it consistent with your feelings of duty to your Government to surrender the redoubt, which I can certainly storm and take".

[20] Ross reported that he refused to guarantee that the African-American soldiers or their white officers would be treated as prisoners of war, and that McKee "squabbled" about that point.

[18] On March 6, 1864, orders arrived from XVII Corps for Coates to load his troops aboard steamboats and travel down the Yazoo River to Liverpool Heights.

In addition, the steamers Hastings and Mattie Cook had an unreported number of bales that had been purchased by agents licensed by the United States Treasury.

[16] Sherman's main column reached Meridian on February 14 and his troops spent five days wrecking the railroads and other facilities.