Erik:

The "Battle" of Romulus Historic Marker is located at the Romulus Volunteer Fire Department Station (which also serves as the Romulus Community Center, according to the "mayor" of Romulus) at the intersection of Tuscaloosa County Highway 2 and County 51. This is at N 33 degrees, 8.851'- W 87 degrees 45.501'. At least that's where it was back in March when I helped dedicate and unveil the marker.

Following the exact route of Croxton and the series of skirmishes which took place on April 6, 1865, presents somewhat of a problem. Several stretches of road which were traveled in 1865 simply cannot be accessed or even found now some 140 years hence. About half the route taken by Croxton on the morning of April 6 from King's Store (Pleasant Grove) to Jordan's and Lanier's Sipsey Mills ("Lanier's Mill), a distance of some 12.6 miles (map calculation- 12 miles according to Croxton-OR) are simply trails on private property and not publicly accessible. Further, the Sipsey Mills site, that of the Sipsey Bridge, and the road on the south side of Sipsey over which the initial fighting took place are in private hands and posted. It took considerable hometown connections (as well as local black friends, employed by the landowners, who had a key) for me to gain access to this area last July. Only in a few places could the old Selma-Columbus Stage road be made out.

Most of the fighting involving the 6th Kentucky Cavalry took place within a few miles of Pleasant Ridge and some twenty miles from Romulus. Most of the 6th Kentucky casualties were suffered at Sipsey Mills, Sipsey Bridge, Pleasant Ridge, and Sipsey Swamp, according to Compiled Sevice Records. Altogether 19 (including three officers) of the 6th Kentucky were captured by Adams' forces. Most of those Kentucky troopers captured were armed with Spencer carbines at the time of capture. I have speculated that a ridge about seven miles northwest of Pleasant Ridge may have been a point of partial resistance by the 6th which probably proved untinable, and was the point from which the final skeedadling of the 6th Kentucky took place. This location is some fifteen miles south of Romulus.

The 2nd Michigan Cavalry were not "sent in" to re-enforce the 6th Kentucky, but simply halted, about faced, and deployed across the road "near King's Bridge." I estimate this to be some dozen or so miles from the actions of Adams and the 6th Kentucky, and some eleven miles south of Romulus. The fleeing Kentuckians simply came running up to the Michiganers' position and passed through the ranks to escape their graycoat pursuers. At this location "near King's Bridge" the 8th Iowa Cavalry was also deployed "on the far flank," which I suppose would be east of the 2nd Michigan position near King's Bridge. While Croxton simply chose not to mention this regiment, these 600 troops were driven from their positions by Adams; casualties from every company in the 8th are documented on April 6 "near King's Bridge." Altogether 25 troopers from the 8th were made prisoner by Adams' command on April 6 & 7.

The site of "King's Bridge" was known by the early 20th century as "Bailey's Bridge," and many older residents of Pickens County recall swimming at this sharp bend in Sipsey. It is also possible that the orginal "King's Bridge" was slightly further downstream from the Bailey Bridge location, as the orginal King and Bailey properties bisected this the only accessible bend in Sipsey north of Sipsey Mills. There is now a boat launch on the Greene County side at this site, though on my last visit the short and rather rutted paved road to the river from County 156 was locked off.

Realize that the above actions all took place in what was then Pickens County, now Greene County. Previous writers on these actions have all been Tuscaloosans, and seem to give the impression that all fighting took place in Tuscaloosa County. There are no Federal or Confederate casualties from April 6, 1865, documented from any location in Tuscaloosa County. From putting together fragmentary evidence from several sources, I believe that a final action of this series of skirmishes did take place in Tuscaloosa County after dark about a mile south of the Romulus Fire Station on the sides of Hamp Mountain, a 430 foot prominance visible from the present marker location. Though Tuscaloosa County Road 2 does not come very close, in 1865 this road ran right along the base of the "mountain," and this seems a logical site for the ambush in which Capt. William Luckett, Co M, Wood's (Adams') Regiment, along with two troopers of the same were killed in action. Capt. Luckett's CSR, however, does not include documentation of his death in battle, much less where that might have taken place. (Indeed, Confederate CSR's are pretty sparce of information after December 1864, except for those captured and/or paroled by Union forces)

The general though not exact route of the series of fights would be over Greene County roads 60, 183, and 156. Where it would appear the last cavalry charge east of the Mississippi took place "near King's Bridge" is not even along the present paved route.

I hope this clarifies most uncertainty about the route of Croxton on April 6, 1865. The Romulus marker quotes Croxton's OR report that he lost 34 in the "Pleasant Ridge-Romulus" skirmishes, though at least 50 and perhaps 6-8 more Federal casualties can be documented. It is recorded that Adams lost 9 killed and 25 wounded in these fights. There was one Confederate officer captured near King's Bridge.