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When Bullets Flew
In celebration of the Civil War’s Sesquicentennial, Larry Ray is compiling a number
of articles detailing the history of his own backyard along the Tennessee River.
This is the sixth in the series. Previous articles can be read online in the archives of MyParisMagazine.com.
The Battle of Paris
By Larry Ray
fter the fall of Forts Heiman and
Henry in early February, 1862,
General Ulysses S. Grant dispatched
patrols on scouting
operations to disrupt Confederate
recruitment. They were also instructed
to guard against Confederate attacks
on the now Union-controlled forts.
On one of these expeditions, troops
entered Paris late in the day on March
11, 1862.
Suddenly, the crack of Enfield rifles
and the explosions of cannons from
a Confederate camp just west of the
L&N Depot (across from the present
KWT Railway offices at 908 Depot
Street) could be heard from the court
square as the Battle of Paris erupted.
Four Union companies and a
battery of artillery consisting of 500
men were attacking the Confederate
encampment, which numbered 450
soldiers. Night was coming and it appeared
that both commands became
alarmed and retreated around the same
time. Federals made an all-night march
back toward Paris Landing and the
Confederates retreated in the opposite
direction. Both commands left their
dead and wounded on the field. The
next morning, citizens of Paris buried
the fallen and tended to the injured.
Marking it
This battle is commemorated with
an Historical Marker located just west
of Paris on Highway 54 that reads:
On this ridge on March 11, 1862,
450 Confederate troops under the
command of Major H. Clay King,
1st Kentucky Battalion, Cavalry, and
Stack’s and McCutchan’s unattached
Tennessee Companies were attacked
by Federal troops from Fort Henry.
Twenty Confederates and 60 to 80 Federals
were killed or wounded before
the Federals withdrew.
Flag of truce
Later, Union Captain Charles C.
Nott with the Fifth Iowa Cavalry, who
was stationed at Camp Lowe south of
Fort Heiman, was ordered to recover
the dead, wounded and captured Federal
soldiers. He left Camp Lowe for
Paris with his regimental surgeon and
a cavalry escort under a flag of truce.
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