2014 is the sesquicentennial year for the Battle of Brown’s Mill and Newnan as a hospital town during America’s Civil War. The Battle of Brown’s Mill was a cavalry battle between the Union forces of Brigadier General Edward M. McCook and Confederate General Joseph Wheeler.
Early skirmishing between Confederate Brigadier General Phillip Roddey and McCook’s advance regiment, the 8th Indiana Volunteer Cavalry, lasted for about an hour at the Newnan Depot, but the Union column soon detoured the town looking for a way to get across the Chattahoochee River so they could return to the Union Army headquarters in Marietta.
Wheeler intercepted their route at the intersection of Old Corinth Road and what is now Millard Farmer Road, but at the time was a road to R.Y. Brown’s mill.
The battle began about midday on July 30, 1864 – a hot, sultry day – and lasted about five and a half to six hours.
Ultimately, this battle was a Confederate victory, among the last that the Confederate Army would experience before the war was over in April 1865.
The reenactment of the Battle of Brown’s Mill will take place at the Coweta County Fairgrounds today where there is plenty of parking and room for other displays of living history. Concessions near the midway will be selling food.
Sesquicentennial memorabilia (pins, T-shirts, etc.) will be for sale in the Fruit Stand.
The Confederate and Union military camps will be open to the public on Saturday from 9 a.m. until noon. Reenactments at the Fairgrounds will be held at 2 p.m. today and Sunday. A reenactment of the skirmish at the downtown depot will be today only at 10 a.m.
Beginning at 9 a.m. downtown, at the 1904 Courthouse, spectators can visit a Confederate hospital shed where the Army of Tennessee Medical Corps reenactors will be demonstrating procedures used during the Civil War.
First Person Interpreters will portray a druggist; Dr. Samuel Stout; Dr. Jonathan Letterman; and Dr. John Taggart being interviewed by first person portrayals of reporters working for the Newnan Herald.
Life in the 1850s and 1860s in Coweta County will be remembered by “Myrtle Candler Long”, and customs related to funerals and mourning will also be part of the program of first person interpretations. The history of trains and Civil War artifacts will be on display at the Historic Depot. A horse and wagon will haul “wounded” soldiers from the depot to the hospital shed. Sunday morning services at downtown churches will be timed so that they are all completed by 11 a.m. Downtown medical shed demonstrations and first person interpretations will begin at 11 a.m. on Sunday. The displays at the depot will open. Sunday activities downtown and at the Fairgrounds will conclude at 4 p.m.
Tickets are $5 per person per day and can be purchased either downtown or at the Fairgrounds. Purchase of a ticket is good for admission at both the Downtown and Fairgrounds venues on the day of purchase.
