Kilpatrick's Raid

KILPATRICK'S RAID. After the failed McCook and Stoneman raids, Union Maj. Gen. W.T. Sherman mounted one last effort to cut Atlanta's railroads with his calvary. Just before dark, August 18, 1864, Brig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick led 4,500 troopers of the 2nd and 3rd Calvary Divisions from their bivouac at Sandtown.

Crossing Camp Creek, they collided with Brig. Gen. Sul Ross's Texas calvary and a running fight began as the outnumbered Texans grudgingly retreated toward the Atlanta & West Point R.R. After tearing up the track near Fairburn, Kilpatrick's men fought their way into Jonesboro on August 19, where they wrecked four miles of the Macon & Western R.R. As Confederate forces closed in, the raiders quietly slipped away, reaching Lovejoy the next morning.

Overtaken by rebel infantry and Ross's pursuing calvary, Kilpatrick formed his compact columns on a ridge just west of the Nash farm. With sabers drawn and bugles blaring, they rode over Ross's Texans in one of the most dramatic calvary charges of the Civil War. Escaping across South River, the raiders reached Sherman's lines August 22.

By that time, hasty Confederate repairs to the railroads already had trains rolling into Atlanta again. HENRY COUNTY, GEORGIA