By Saturday, May 28, 1864, fierce Confederate resistance at New Hope Church on May 25 and Pickett's Mill on May 27 had convinced Union Major General William T. Sherman to move his armies eastward back to the Western and Atlantic Railroad to reestablish their supply line from Chattanooga. Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston then ordered Major General William B. Bate's division of Lieutenant General William J. Hardee's corps to probe the Federal lines of Major General John A. Logan's 15th Corps to determine whether the trenches were still occupied, hoping to catch Federals moving in the open. Brigadier General Frank C. Armstrong's Mississippi and Alabama dismounted cavalry brigade began the advance, joined by Brigadier General L. Sullivan "Sul" Ross's Texas cavalry brigade, and at 3:45 p.m. on May 28 Armstrong's men moved west along the front with orders to report if the Federals remained entrenched so a planned infantry attack by three brigades could be cancelled. Armstrong's brigade approached Union skirmishers in Colonel Reuben Williams' Illinois and Indiana infantry brigade and three 10-pounder Parrott rifled cannon of the 1st Iowa Battery Light Artillery Regiment, positioned about 200 yards southwest outside an entrenched fishhook-shaped hilltop, and Captain Charles W. Wills of the 103rd Illinois Infantry Regiment reported that a heavy Confederate column surged from the brush and took the three guns. Logan shifted more Federal infantry to meet the threat, but as the Confederates pushed farther they encountered a much stronger Federal position on the eastern and southern brow of the hill, where Captain Francis DeGress's four 20-pounder Parrott rifled cannon of Battery H, 1st Illinois Light Artillery Regiment stood on the summit and strong works behind them were filled with soldiers, making it impossible for the Confederates to hold what they had gained. Armstrong learned that Logan's 15th Corps was still entrenched and not withdrawing. Logan personally led the effort to recapture the three cannon, meeting the 6th Iowa Infantry Regiment of Colonel Charles Walcutt's brigade in Brigadier General William Harrow's division and counterattacking; he suffered a slight arm wound while forcing the Confederates to retreat. Confederate casualties totaled 171 and Federal casualties were fewer than 150. Armstrong informed Bate that the Federals remained behind strong fortifications, so Bate cancelled his division's main attack, but the cancellation was not properly forwarded to two of his brigades, which attacked Federal positions just to the north with disastrous results.