On December 20, 1862, Confederate troops under General Earl Van Dorn raided Ulysses Grant's supply depot at Holly Springs, Mississippi. Van Dorn’s forces fell on the Union supply depot, driving the defenders away after capturing fifteen hundred Federals.
The Confederates then destroyed approximately one and one half million dollars of military supplies. Van Dorn’s Confederates remained in the area a few more days, cutting rail and telegraph lines, before fleeing in the face of pursuing Union cavalry.
The Confederates rode 500 miles in two weeks, returning to their lines on December 28 after successfully disrupting Grant's campaign against Vicksburg. The raid was the highlight of Van Dorn's military career. He was killed five months later by the husband of a woman with whom he was having an affair.