On June 5, 1864, after Johnston’s army withdrew from Smyrna to the river, Howard’s 4th Army Corps and Baird's division of the 14th Army Corps, United States, occupied Vining’s by highway and railroad. Baird’s troops continued down the railroad until Johnston’s River Line halted them. Troops of the 4th Army Corps pursued Confederate wagon trains, escorted by Wheeler’s cavalry, toward the pontoon bridge at Pace’s Ferry, where they crossed the river. Morgan’s 7th Indiana Battery shelled the column from Vining’s Hill. From this eminence, Generals Sherman, Thomas, and Baird also had their first view of Atlanta across the Chattahoochee, 9.5 miles southeast.