On May 27, 1862, Union Col. Washington Elliott with two cavalry regiments - the 2nd Iowa and the 2nd Michigan - departed camps northeast of Farmington. Elliott was to penetrate the country south of Corinth and strike, if possible, the Mobile & Ohio Railroad. On the road at 1:00 a.m., the horse soldiers rode east through rugged countryside. They crossed successively Yellow Creek and the Memphis & Charleston Railroad, and bivouacked at 2:00 a.m. on the 28th at Thompson's, 6 miles south of Iuka.

At daybreak, Elliott had his men in the saddle. They traveled southwest via poor roads through the Tombigbee swamps. The raiders entered Booneville, on the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, some 25 miles south of Corinth at daybreak on May 29. The town was crowded with some 2,000 to 3,000 sick and convalescent Confederate soldiers. An infantry regiment was reportedly camped on the railroad south of town and a battalion of cavalry was said to be encamped north along the railroad guarding the bridge and trestle spanning Kings Creek. A disabled locomotive and 26 cars stood near the railroad depot.

The telegraph line was cut and the tracks north and south of town were torn up, rails bent, and ties burned. While Col. Philip H. Sheridan's 2nd Michigan troopers wreaked havoc on the railroad south of Booneville, they were interrupted by a detachment of Tennessee horse soldiers led by Col. W. R. Bradfire. Sheridan had little trouble in rallying his Michiganders and driving off the smaller Confederate force. The railroad cars, five of which were loaded with artillery ammunition, and the depot, were torched. Before doing so, the Federals saw that most of the hospitalized Confederates were removed beyond the blast zone when the powder and shells exploded.

After paroling some 500 to 700 convalescent Confederate infantry and taking about 40 mounted Southerners as prisoners, Elliott recalled his horse soldiers, and at 9:00 a.m. evacuated Booneville and headed northeast. As they rode along for the first few hours, they heard explosions as fires they had set reached and exploded ammunition. The brigade returned to its Farmington camp at 8:00 p.m. on May 31, having ridden 180 miles during its four-day raid. They now learned that Halleck's "army group" had been in possession of Corinth for more than 36 hours.

This site has local significance because it is associated with military activities and events that achieved or affected important local objectives of the Vicksburg campaign.