After defeating the Confederates at Shiloh in early April of 1862, federal forces gained access to the Tennessee River Valley. Within a few days, on April 11, a detachment of Gen. Don Carlos Buell’s Army of the Ohio captured Huntsville, Alabama. Under the leadership of Maj. Gen. O. M. Mitchel, eight thousand Union troops took control of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad and used the locomotives to move quickly through the territory, occupying most of northern Alabama in one day. A few weeks later, on May 2, Union Col. John Basil Turchin occupied Athens. His forces quickly severed the railroad and forced the Confederate Army to abandon its supplies and head south.
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Becoming Alabama:
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