Grierson's Raid 1863

On the morning of April 30, 1963, Union Col. B.H. Grierson led the 6th and 7th Illinois Cavalry south on the New Orleans, Jackson and Greta Northern Railroad, burning the Bogue Chitto depot and a number of bridges, trestles, water towers, twenty-five freight cars, thirty barrels of rum and a large quantity of sugar at Summit. Grierson then led his cavalry southwest on the Liberty Road. This raid diverted Confederate attention from Gen. Grant's main effort to cross the Mississippi River