The Stoneman Raid: Battle of King's Tanyard

Coming in on Atlanta in July, 1864, Maj. Gen. W.T. Sherman found it "too strong to assault and too extensive to invest." To force its evacuation, he sent Maj. Gen. Geo. Stoneman's cavalry [USA] to cut the Macon railway by which its defenders were supplied. At the Battle of Sunshine Church (19 miles NE of Macon), Stoneman surrendered with 600 men to Brig. Gen. Alfred Iverson, Jr., [CSA] after covering the escape northward of Adams' and Capron's brigades. Both units retreated via Athens, intending to resupply their commands there and to "destroy the armory and other government works," but were stopped at the river bridge south of Athens by Home Guard units with a battery of guns. Unable to cross, they turned west; Capron on the Hog Mountain road through Jug Tavern (Winder), and Adams on roads farther north by which he reached the Union lines near Marietta without further losses. Capron passed through Jug Tavern late that night and marched to King's Tanyard (5 miles NW on State 211) where he halted for two hours to rest his exhausted command. Before dawn on August 3rd, he was surprised by Williams' Kentucky brigade [CSA]. About 430 of his men were captured and sent to Athens, a few escaping through the woods. Capron himself, with six men, reached the Union lines near Marietta four days later -- on foot. This action, known also as the Battle of Jug Tavern, was the final event of the Federal fiasco called the Stoneman Raid.