The March to the Sea, Wilkinson County

On Nov. 21, 1864, with the arrival of Smith's Division, 17th corps, preceded by the 1st Alabama Cavalry [US] which met with only sporadic resistance, the Right Wing (15th and 17th Corps) of General Sherman's army, which had left Atlanta on Nov. 15th on its destructive March to the Sea, began concentrating around Gordon where it would be in communication with the Left Wing (14th, and 20th Corps), then converging on Milledgeville. On the 22nd, Hq. Army of the Tennessee (the Right Wing), Maj Gen. O.O. Howard, USA, Hq. 15th Corps (Osterhaus) and Hq. 17th Corps (Blair) opened here, and Smith's division, 15th Corps, and Mower's and Leggett's divisions, 17th Corps, arrived. On the 23rd, the Artillery Brigade and Kilpatrick's cavalry division reached Gordon. On the 24th, Corse's division, 15th Corps, with the supply trains, a cattle herd and the pontoon train, arrived. Woods and Hazen's divisions, 15th Corps, marched to Irwinton on roads south of Gordon and encamped there on Nov. 24th. Beginning on the 23rd, the Right Wing moved to the Oconee River in two columns. The 17th Corps moved along the railroad to cross at Jackson's Ferry (above the RR bridge). That route proving to be impracticable, the 17th Corps was diverted to Ball's Ferry (25 miles SE) where, on the 26th it crossed on pontoon bridges, together with the 15th Corps which had moved via Irwinton. The cavalry moved Milledgeville for duty with the Left Wing.