"When Sherman advances south from Chattanooga, as he most assuredly will do, in the spring of 1864, have the cavalry in North Alabama and Mississippi descend on the Federal's tenuous railroad supply line in Middle Tennessee and, increasingly, in North Georgia, and break that line. When this is done, with Union supplies greatly limited, the Army of Tennessee would then take the offensive and strike a decisive blow against Sherman, destroying him, or at least driving him back out of Georgia and maybe back well into Tennessee." This was one vision Army of Tennessee commander Joseph Johnston had in mind for the coming campaign. His greatest hope was that the raider Bedford Forrest's Southern horsemen would make the strike. But, Johnston's opponent had anticipated such moves. Thousands of Federals based out of Memphis would be committed to keeping Forrest tied up in Mississippi.

If Forrest couldn't make the strike, could the smaller cavalry force in North Alabama accomplish the goal? On June 13, Johnston wrote Richmond, "I earnestly suggest that Major-General Forrest be ordered to take such parts as he may select of the commands of Pillow, Chalmers and Roddey, all in Eastern Alabama, and operate on the enemy's rear between his army and Dalton." In the last third of June 1864, such an effort was made, but not under Forrest. It resulted in the Battle of LaFayette on June 24, 1864, another of the smaller, normally overlooked mini-battles of the bloody four years of the war. It was not a fight that was intended to be fought originally by either side and one that became rather unique in that it was fought almost exclusively in a town, from building to building.

Our meeting this month will examine this bloody little engagement, doing so in the shadow of two of the buildings that witnessed the fight and just a couple of blocks from the site of the most heated parts of the battle. It will take our Round Table literally to another battlefield of the war.

Our speaker is Historian Lee White. Lee is a Walker County, Georgia native descended from several long time Walker County families. Attending both Dalton College and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, he has a degree in American History and is presently a Park Guide at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. Well known in the Living History community for his extensive expertise in the material culture of the Confederate army, particularly the Army of Tennessee, Lee is the author of a chapter in A Meteor Shining Brightly: Essays on Maj. Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne edited by Mauriel Joslyn and he continues his long-term research project on the Arkansans in the Cleburne-Liddell-Govan brigade of the Army of Tennessee. He has previously spoken to the Round Table on the many patterns of battle flags used by the Confederates at Chickamauga and Chattanooga.

My orders were that Armistead, with his brigade, should attack the town on the west front, and Neely, with his brigade should attack the south front. It was intended that the attack should be simultaneous by both commands, and should take place at daylight. Armistead's command, however, made the attack first and before Neely had got fully in position. Armistead drove in enemy's pickets at daylight, and in the course of twenty minutes, he had possession of the entire town with all its approaches and outposts. That portion of the enemy's forces in and near the public square took shelter in the court-house, jail, and hotel, all except the latter being solid brick walls. The doors were closed and barred by sacked corn, the windows were filled with the same, forming loop-holes for enemy's guns, and thus became strong fortresses. Being in possession of the entire town and public square, Colonel Armistead made several efforts to carry by assault these buildings, but was unsuccessful. Subsequently he was captured, afterward escaped and rejoined his command, and returned to the square and renewed the contest until he was finally severely wounded and retired. Colonel Neely's command, having been engaged with a force in his front, reached the square in a short time after Colonel Armistead had withdrawn his men from the square. The assualt being renewed, his men combined with Armistead's and occupied all the approaches to the square and the surrounding buildings, forced their way to the court-house, and renewed the efforts to break into the fortified buildings, but it was found impossible to do so without artillery...