In July, 1864, as Maj. Gen. W.T. Sherman’s U.S. army closed in on Atlanta and found its fortifications too strong to assault and too extensive to invest, he sent Maj. Gen. George Stoneman with three cavalry brigades, 2112 men and 2 guns, to cut the Central of Georgia R.R. that supplied the city’s Confederate defenders. On the 27th, Stoneman left Decatur, crossed the Ocmulgee (Yellow) River near Covington, and moved down the left bank toward Macon. On the 30th, at Clinton, Major F. M. Davidson of the 14th Illinois Cavalry was detached with 125 men to destroy railway facilities. At Gordon, his force burned a large brick depot filled with army supplies, destroyed 11 locomotives, burned 11 trains of cars consisting of 40 passenger cars, 80 box-cars filled with commissary and quartermaster stores, and 20 open cars loaded with machinery, burned a large building stored with tools and machinery belonging to the railroad company and 1 cotton factory, destroyed the telegraph office with several instruments while capturing the operator, and tore up half a mile of railroad track. He also destroyed facilities and supplies at McIntyre and Toomsboro and burned the railway bridge over the Oconee River. After Stoneman was repulsed at Macon, his retreat was intercepted early on the 31st at Sunshine Church, north of Clinton, by Brig. Gen. Alfred Iverson, Jr., who with only 1300 Confederate cavalry deluded Stoneman into surrendering to a much smaller force.