It was Colonel Edward Prince, commander of the 7th Illinois who led a battalion behind a small scouting party dressed as Confederates into Hazlehurst ahead of Grierson's main column. They burned most of the town although their intent was only to burn the rolling stock. A Confederate train from Jackson narrowly escaped destruction by Prince's men when the alert engineering put the train into an emergency reverse direction just within sight of the town. The train escaped back to Crystal Springs where the engineer telegraphed Pemberton about the location of the Yankees. Grierson left Hazelhurst that evening toward Gallatin.

Lt. Col. William Blackburn was one of Grierson's most aggressive officers and he was wounded at Wall's Bridge on May 1st. He died at Newman's Plantation, twenty miles from Magnolia and about a mile from Wall's Bridge.

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David Upton