Susan,

The answer to your question lies in two facts. First of all in the spring of 1865 the resources of the South, especially manpower resources, were stretched to the breaking point. It was impossible to protect everything. Tannehill and Brierfield were not even the only ironworks that needed guarding. There were also large works at Browns Dam and Oxmoore and in Talladega and Shelby Counties.

Secondly, though ironworks were important in a long-term strategic sense they were not as important in the short term as railroads and arsenals. Without transportation and munitions Ironworks would be irrelevant. When Forrest was able to determine the approximate targets of Wilson’s raid he attempted to concentrate his forces to attack him before he could destroy the most important of these (Selma). Although some Confederate forces arrived around Brierfield before Wilson they made no defense of the works. Forrest instead fought delaying actions from Montevallo to Stanton in an attempt to catch the enemy in a classic “pincer movement”. This may well have worked had not a courier been captured with orders that disclosed his plans.