Ten miles from the spot where the enemy was encamped, he wheeled to the left and headed for Tupedo, Mississippi, reaching there at dark.

Forrest speedily discovered that Smith did not intend to attack him on his own ground.

So he broke camp, and, coming up to the rear, continued a hot fire through the next afternoon.
Arriving near Tupedo, General Smith selected, as a battleground, the crest of a ridge commanding the position Forrest had taken up.

Between the two armies lay a plantation of four or five thousand acres.

The next morning Forrest dismounted some four thousand cavalry, and with cavalry and artillery on his left and right advanced upon our position.
Straight across the plantation they came, while Smith rode back and forth behind the long breastworks that protected his men, cautioning them to reserve their fire till it could be made to tell.