Confederates strike from behind; a Union column is wrecked in Gainesville's square

Union troops rode into Gainesville, Florida on August 17, 1864, expecting to hold a town they had raided before. Captain John Jackson Dickison's Confederate cavalry hit Colonel Andrew Harris's column from the rear before it could deploy, and two hours of fighting in the town square ended with the Union force shattered. Only about 40 of Colonel Harris's men, including Harris himself, made it out; the rest were killed, captured, or scattered in the retreat. Gainesville stayed in Confederate hands for the rest of the war…