DECEMBER 24TH, 1864: After Confederate General Hood's defeat at Nashville, he began retreating to Alabama with what was left of his army. Today, Rear Admiral Lee, commanding the Mississippi Squadron, arrived off Chickasaw, Alabama, in an attempt to cut off the retreat. At Chickasaw, the USS Fairy destroyed a Confederate fort and magazine, but even this small, shallow-draft river boat was unable to go beyond Great Mussel Shoals on the Tennessee River because of low water.
On 27 December, gunboats engaged and destroyed two field pieces near Florence, Alabama, but by this time the water of the Tennessee River had fallen drastically, and Lee's vessels were compelled to withdraw toward Eastport.
--Old B-R'er
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