Battle of West Point
The Battle of West Point, Georgia, was fought on the 16th of April, 1865 - seven days after Lee's surrender at Appomattox, though word had not yet spread to every corner of the collapsing Confederacy. A small earthwork fort on a hill above the Chattahoochee River became the site of one of the final armed engagements of the American Civil War. Inside, a Confederate brigadier general named Robert C. Tyler commanded a garrison of convalescents and militia, outnumbered and outgunned. By the time the shooting stopped, Tyler was dead - struck down by a sniper firing from a nearby cottage - and would go into history as the last Confederate general killed in battle. How did a modest rail junction in western Georgia become the setting for this grim distinction? And what did Union General James H. Wilson hope to gain by sending troops here at all, in a war already decided?
After defeating Lt. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest's defenders at the Battle of Selma on the 2nd of April, 1865, and capturing Montgomery, Alabama, on the 12th of April, U.S. Brig. Gen. Wilson fixed his attention on the Chattahoochee River to the east. He telegraphed Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas with confidence bordering on certainty: "If I can now destroy arsenals and supplies at Columbus and divide their army in the southwest, they must disintegrate for lack of munitions. There is no force to resist me, and I see no reasonable ground for fearing failures. My command is in magnificent condition." The river presented the key obstacle. Swollen by rains, it could not be crossed without capturing a bridge. Wilson identified two viable crossings, each anchoring a separate town: West Point to the north and Columbus to the south. The two towns sat only 35 miles apart. Rather than gamble on a single target, Wilson split his force and struck both simultaneously, reasoning that at least one bridge might be taken intact. Colonel Oscar Hugh La Grange drew the assignment to attack West Point.
West Point held no foundries or mills, but it was a critical rail junction. Two railroads of different gauges met there, creating an extensive yard filled with locomotives and rail cars. Whoever controlled West Point controlled the movement of supplies through that corridor. Defending the river crossing was Fort Tyler, a 35-yard square earthwork built on a hill on the Alabama side of the Chattahoochee. Its walls stood four-and-a-half feet high, ringed by a ditch between six and ten feet deep and seven to twelve feet across. The fort's armaments were modest but real: a 32-pounder siege gun and two 12-pounder field pieces. It was named for its commander, Confederate Brig. Gen. Robert C. Tyler, who led a garrison estimated at somewhere between 120 and 265 men - convalescents and militia, many of them armed only with smoothbore muskets. The garrison's thin numbers and limited weapons would shape every decision made once the Union cavalry arrived on the morning of the 16th of April.
La Grange's brigade approached West Point that morning with the 2nd and 4th Indiana Cavalry, the 1st Wisconsin Cavalry, the 7th Kentucky Cavalry, and the 18th Indiana Battery of light artillery. The cavalry troopers carried Spencer carbines, a repeating weapon that gave them a substantial edge in rate of fire over the defenders' smoothbore muskets. Skirmishing began at 10 a.m. as Fort Tyler's pickets were driven in. The Federal battery set up half a mile away on Ward's Hill and began shelling the redoubt. At 1:30 p.m., La Grange arrived with the rest of his command, and the assault intensified. Dismounted troopers pressed within 50 yards of the parapet, sniping at Confederate artillerists trying to man their cannon. La Grange then led the 4th Indiana Cavalry in a direct dash for the railroad bridge - his primary objective - hoping the sniper fire would keep the fort's guns occupied. A shell from the 32-pounder killed his horse and two pack animals and left the colonel briefly stunned on the ground. His riders pushed on, crossed the bridge, jumped a gap where planks had been removed, and scattered the small Confederate force on the east bank that had been tasked with burning the structure.
Back at Fort Tyler, the situation for the garrison was deteriorating in a particular and grim way. The fort lacked headlogs - protective timber installed along the top of earthworks to shield defenders - which left Confederate soldiers dangerously exposed. Sniper and artillery fire killed and wounded a disproportionate number through head wounds as a result. The garrison commander, Tyler, had been urged before the battle to burn nearby structures that might shelter Union marksmen. He had refused, reportedly because he did not believe the local owners could survive the financial loss. That decision cost him his life. A participant later recorded that Tyler bravely stepped into the open to observe the battlefield and was immediately shot dead by a sniper firing from one of those same cottages he had chosen to spare. His second-in-command, Captain Celestino Gonzalez, was killed shortly after. Colonel James H. Fannin took command. As ammunition ran low, some defenders resorted to throwing rocks and rolling lit shells over the parapet. Union soldiers used long planks salvaged from nearby structures to cross the ditch, sounded a cavalry bugle for a final charge, and stormed the embankment. The fort surrendered at once.
Union casualties numbered seven killed and twenty-nine wounded. The Confederates lost nineteen killed, twenty-eight wounded, and two hundred eighteen captured. Tyler's death was recorded as the last of any Confederate general in a pitched battle. Those who died on the Confederate side were buried in what became the Fort Tyler Cemetery on the east side of the river, and it is believed, though not confirmed, that the Union dead were laid to rest there too. At least 50 other unidentified Civil War soldiers are interred at the site. Before the engagement, the rolling stock of the Montgomery and West Point Railroad had been moved to West Point for safekeeping after Montgomery fell - but because the trains ran on a narrow gauge incompatible with other lines, they were effectively trapped there. After the surrender, Federal cavalry burned between 19 and 20 locomotives and between 340 and 350 rail cars. Before setting the cars alight, Union troops removed some of the food stores and handed them to the mayor of West Point to feed the wounded of both armies and destitute civilians. The bridges across the Chattahoochee were spared only while La Grange waited for word from Columbus - once confirmation of the Union victory there arrived, the structures were burned as well.
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Common questions
Who was the last Confederate general killed in battle during the Civil War?
Confederate Brig. Gen. Robert C. Tyler was the last Confederate general killed in battle. He was shot dead by a Union sniper during the Battle of West Point, Georgia, on the 16th of April, 1865, after stepping into the open to observe the battlefield.
When did the Battle of West Point Georgia take place?
The Battle of West Point, Georgia, took place on the 16th of April, 1865, in the final weeks of the American Civil War. It was part of Wilson's Raid, a Union campaign through Alabama and Georgia.
What was Fort Tyler and why was it important at the Battle of West Point?
Fort Tyler was a 35-yard square earthwork on a hill on the Alabama side of the Chattahoochee River, equipped with a 32-pounder siege gun and two 12-pounder field pieces. It commanded the railroad bridges at West Point, which Colonel La Grange's Union brigade needed to capture intact.
What were the casualties at the Battle of West Point Georgia?
Union forces suffered seven killed and twenty-nine wounded. Confederate losses were nineteen killed, twenty-eight wounded, and two hundred eighteen captured. The Confederate dead, including General Tyler, were buried in the Fort Tyler Cemetery on the east side of the Chattahoochee River.
Why did Union forces attack West Point Georgia during Wilson's Raid?
West Point was one of only two Chattahoochee River crossings available to Wilson's raiders after capturing Montgomery, Alabama. The river was swollen by rains and could not be forded, so controlling one of the bridges was essential for continuing the Union advance eastward.
What happened to the railroad rolling stock at West Point after the battle?
After the Confederate fort surrendered, Federal cavalry burned between 19 and 20 locomotives and between 340 and 350 rail cars belonging to the Montgomery and West Point Railroad. The narrow-gauge trains had been moved to West Point for safekeeping but were trapped there because their gauge was incompatible with other lines.
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