About: Battle of Philadelphia

The Battle of Philadelphia (October 20, 1863) saw the Confederate cavalry brigades of Colonels J. J. Morrison and George Gibbs Dibrell attack a Union cavalry brigade under Colonel Frank Wolford at Philadelphia, Tennessee, during the Knoxville campaign of the American Civil War. While Dibrell's brigade skirmished with Wolford's cavalrymen, Morrison led his brigade around the west side of Philadelphia to attack the Union force from the rear. Wolford sent half his brigade to counter Morrison's envelopment, but Dibrell's soldiers suddenly attacked. The Confederates completely routed Wolford's troopers, capturing over 400. A Union infantry-cavalry force reoccupied Philadelphia the next day, but a week later it withdrew to the north bank of the Tennessee River, abandoning Loudon, Tennessee.