At this date our forces were located as follows:
Bell’s Brigade was at Rienzi, twenty-five miles from Brice’s Cross-Roads.
Rucker’s Brigade, with Morton’s and Rice’s Batteries, was at Booneville, eighteen miles from Brice’s Cross-Roads.
The brigade of Lyon and Johnston was at Baldwyn, six miles from Brice’s Cross-Roads.
General Forrest had instructed all commanders to be in readiness to march on Brice’s Cross-Roads at daylight on the morning of June 10. He knew that the enemy heavily outnumbered him, and that General Sturgis was bending every effort to outmarch him to that point in order that he might force the Confederates to attack at a great disadvantage.
It had been raining for some time, and on the night of June 9 there was almost a deluge.
Late in the afternoon of the 9th I was unable to locate my company, as I had left it at Baldwyn; so I rode out toward Blackland and secured lodging in a farmhouse that belonged to a former comrade, and had a good supper and a comfortable night of rest. I found that General Lyon, of the Kentucky Brigade, was spending the night under the same kindly roof.
At daylight of the 10th everything in Forrest’s command was on the move. The clouds lifted and the day grew intensely hot.
The Union commander, evidently feeling that he had the situation well in hand, was not so zealous in getting all of his command to the Cross-Roads.
The enemy camped on the night of the 9th of June at Stub’s farm, nine miles from the battle field, while the bulk of our force was twenty miles away. Sturgis sent forward his two brigades of cavalry and took possession of the Cross-Roads, throwing forward a strong force on the Baldwyn and Guntown Road. I marched with General Lyon’s force until we met General Forrest with his escort, and then I fell in with the escort. We marched rapidly until we struck the Union pickets about three miles out on the Baldwyn Road. These we pressed back until we came up on Warring’s Brigade, posted behind a rail fence around a small field of corn. One organization of this command was armed with Colts’ repeating rifles, the most dangerous weapon the war had developed up to that time. Forrest, with only about 800 of his men at hand and facing 3,500 men, knew the danger of bringing on a fight. The units of his army were scattered far back on the muddy roads, moving with all possible swiftness to the field. Never did the infinite boldness of Forrest stand out more startlingly than at that moment of danger. He dismounted every trooper and ordered their horses tied to the trees in our rear. Then he strung out our thin line as far as possible, so that the enemy’s line would not overlap us, and we marched boldly up to the opening and began a rapid fire with our rifles. By this front we completely deceived the enemy and held him to his first line until we were reinforced with a part of our army. With this our force was increased to about half the number facing us, and General Forrest now felt that he must force the fighting in order to defeat the cavalry before the Union infantry could come up. Meantime, General Sturgis was urging his infantry through the intense heat. As the foot troops arrived almost exhausted, the Union cavalry was being pressed back, and Forrest’s artillery and Bell’s Brigade were swinging into view to reinforce the Confederates.