At daybreak on February 15, Pillow and Johnson's division, along with Col. Nathan B. Forrest's cavalry, attacked Gen. John A. McClernand's troops on the Union right flank in an attempt to secure an escape route on this road. The attack succeeded in briefly opening Forge Road as an avenue of escape but, because of indecision and confusion among their commanders, the Confederate troops were ordered to return to their entrenchments. Union soldiers reoccupied the area the southerners had fought so hard to control.
