Four minor battles occurred in 1863 at Collierville, Tennessee, during a
three-month period. The November 3 fight was intended to be a Confederate
cavalry raid to break up the Memphis & Charleston Railroad behind Maj.
Gen. William T. Sherman's XV Army Corps, then in the process of marching to
the relief of Chattanooga. But, when Brig. Gen. James R. Chalmers, leading a
cavalry division riding up from Mississippi, learned that only two Union
regiments defended Collierville, he decided to attack. Union Col. Edward Hatch
possessed more men than Chalmers supposed, stationed at Collierville and at
Germantown, five miles to the west. Scouts warned Hatch of Chalmers's approach
from the south, so he ordered Collierville's defenders to be prepared and rode
from Germantown with cavalry reinforcements. Chalmers, as he had done only
three weeks earlier, attacked from the south. Col. Hatch arrived with help.
Surprised by the unexpected appearance of the enemy on his flanks, Chalmers
concluded that he was outnumbered, called off the battle, and, to ward off
Union pursuit, withdrew back to Mississippi. The Memphis & Charleston
Railroad remained open to Tuscumbia, Alabama, for Union troop movements.