Just before dawn, July 30, 1864, Union Brig. Gen. Edward M. Cook came from the Palmetto area heading into Fayetteville and came across a long Confederate supply train with supplies and payroll for Atlanta.
Confederate soldiers were captured and garrisoned on the courthouse lawn in Fayettevile, and horses and mules were sabered so shots would not be heard in town.
The Union troops proceeded on to Lovejoy the next day and found Confederate troops chasing them back through Fayette County, through the Inman area and what is now Ebenezer Church Road.
At the Asa (sometimes written Acy) Mitchell house a skirmish took place. The skirmish took place at the community of Shakerag, now in Peachtree City.
McCook’s forces were against Confederate Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler’s forces. Both sides suffered many casualties before Wheeler led a headlong charge that broke the Union line. He then headed toward Newnan going over Line Creek, it is felt perhaps somewhere where the current Wynmeade Subdivision is now in Peachtree City.
When McCook reached near Newnan, his division was attacked near Brown’s Mill, by Wheeler’s forces. There were a number of Confederate wounded in the seven hospitals in Newnan, who showed up to assist Wheeler in any way they could. Actually McCook’s forces were greater in number, but McCook didn’t know this. The two forces fought back and forth throughout the day with the smaller force of Wheeler’s and finally McCook, thinking he was outnumbered gave the order to surrender. He and his officers departed the area, after destroying as much of their artillery as they could.
In a dispatch to Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood, Wheeler wrote: “General Hood. We have just completed the killing, capturing, and breaking up the entire raiding party under General McCook — some nine hundred and fifty prisoners — two pieces of Artillery, and twelve hundred horses and equipment captured.”
To celebrate this historic event, the Friends of Brown’s Mill Battlefield are holding a barbecue tomorrow morning at the New Coweta Fair Grounds, beginning at 10:30 a.m. Well known author, David Evans, who wrote “Sherman’s Horseman” will be speaking. There is no charge for the lecture but if you wish to chow down on the barbeque, there is a $10 charge.
