On Friday, July 17, 1863, Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan's Confederate raiders left Jackson in good spirits and singing songs, but after burning a mill near Berlin Crossroads, a small town on the Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad, they learned that a large Union force held the heights above the town. That force was made up of 1,500 raw and untrained Ross County militiamen under Union Colonel Ben P. Runkle, who had hurried down from Chillicothe to intercept Morgan and killed a few raiders as they approached the crossroads. Morgan brought up his artillery and fired several shots at the militia, and after multiple charges by the raiders, the Union force broke and retreated over the hill seeking cover. Runkle and his men delayed Morgan's main column for more than three hours, giving valuable time to the pursuing Union cavalry, and around 2 pm Morgan turned his forces east.