It will be a way for future residents and visitors to Coweta County to get an up-close look at Coweta’s history. The grand opening of the Brown’s Mill Battlefield Civil War Historic Site off Millard Farmer Road will be held July 27.
It was on July 30, 1864 that the Battle of Brown’s Mill was fought. Now 149 years later, the battlefield site will come alive.
The Brown’s Mill Battlefield Association notes that Union troops under the command of Gen. Edward M. McCook in a march from Atlanta toward Macon were defeated by the cavalry under the command of Confederate Gen. Joseph “Fightin’ Joe” Wheeler that had moved into the area from Decatur.
A July 9 proclamation by the Coweta County Commission denoting July as Coweta County History Month stated that the Battle of Brown’s Mill was significant in the history of the Civil War because it changed the way Gen. William T. Sherman fought the Atlanta Campaign.
The defeat of Union forces in Coweta County forced Sherman to abandon his efforts to use cavalry to cut Atlanta’s railroads and compelled him to begin the lengthy siege he had hoped to avoid, the proclamation said.
The battlefield site is dedicated to the Confederate and Union cavalrymen who fought and died on this hallowed ground on July 30, 1864, and to the Confederate and Union medical staff who tended the wounded after the Battle of Brown’s Mill, according to the Brown’s Mill Battlefield Assoc.
Though the site is located south of Newnan at 155 Millard Farmer Road, only those with wheelchair needs will be able to access on-site parking for the grand opening event. All others are asked to park at the nearby Coweta County Fairgrounds and take the shuttles provided. Shuttle service will begin at 9 a.m. and will be provided until 4:40 p.m. The fairgrounds are located at 275 Pine Road.
Grand opening events will begin with the dedication ceremony and ribbon cutting at 9:45 a.m. Other activities throughout the day include a scavenger hunt, food and musical entertainment.
Historians will be on-site from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m.
