In late August 1863, the Federal Army of the Cumberland began moving toward Georgia. On the extreme right of the Federal lines, the XX Army Corps under Major General Alexander M. McCook advanced across Lookout Mountain toward Alpine, Summerville, and Rome, Georgia, while Federal cavalry under Major General David S. Stanley reconnoitered far ahead of the main body. Those cavalry regiments entered Chattooga County on September 1, 1863, and skirmished with Confederate cavalry under Major General Joseph Wheeler at Tap's Gap, present-day Cloudland, and at Neal's Gap on Lookout Mountain. Over the next ten days, as more Federal forces entered Chattooga County, cavalry skirmishes took place at Melville, present-day Lyerly, Alpine, Dirttown, and Summerville. On September 11, 1863, from Alpine, Alexander M. McCook ordered aggressive reconnaissance "at all hazards" toward Lafayette on the Summerville-Lafayette road and the Broomtown road. That same day, at this site near Trion Factory on the Summerville and LaFayette Road, Wheeler wrote Lieutenant General D.H. Hill near Lafayette that he had determined the enemy force reported moving toward Rome had not crossed the Coosa River or gone toward Rome, but had only crossed a short distance over the Chattooga River, and that he had returned to this point. He reported leaving pickets at Dirt Town and on the Melville and Rome road south of the Chattooga River with orders to fall back on Rome if pressed, stated that he had seven regiments of General Wharton's command with him though reduced by scouts, pickets, and other details, and said his scouts were among the enemy on this side of the mountain and that cavalry scouts sent out during the night had been ordered to report directly to Hill. Wheeler added that on that evening the enemy's cavalry was four miles beyond Summerville, that scouts sent to Neal's Gap had not yet reported, and that because he did not know the movements of his own army he would depend on Hill for instructions. On September 12, 1863, Confederate forces withdrew from Trion toward Lafayette. On September 13, 1863, Federal cavalry occupied Trion, and the commander of the First Division wrote at Trion Factory that he had driven away the enemy pickets that morning, had made a move on that side of the river, had sent the Fourth Indiana forward, and expected to move by one o'clock to join the column unless that regiment returned sooner. He wrote that he had sent only a small force across the river because the country was poor for handling a large force and because the force in front of him was larger than he could defeat, that one regiment could accomplish all the division could, and that he believed the enemy infantry were in force on the far side of the Coosa at Lafayette and their cavalry on this side.