In the first phase of the Battle of Averasboro, fought March 15-16, 1865, the left wing of General Sherman’s Union army under General H.W. Slocum advanced from Fayetteville toward Averasboro, led by General H.J. Kilpatrick’s cavalry division, which skirmished with General Joseph Wheeler’s Confederate cavalry as it contested the advance. At 3:00 P.M. on March 15, Union forces struck a heavy Confederate skirmish line, and General Smith Atkins’ 9th Michigan cavalry drove the skirmishers back into the first of three lines of breastworks erected across the road. The Union cavalry then built heavy barricades in front of the Confederate works. At 6:00 P.M., Confederate General W.B. Taliaferro, whose division held the first line, ordered an attack along his front. Although hard-pressed, the Union forces held their position after reinforcements from the 14th Corps arrived, and by nightfall both armies remained in nearly the same positions they had occupied through the afternoon. General W.T. Sherman reached the field during the night. At 6:00 A.M. on March 16, Union forces attacked Taliaferro’s line and drove the Confederates before them, but the Southerners launched a desperate counterattack. A disaster for the Union forces was prevented when parts of the 20th Corps arrived. Three batteries of artillery were then placed near the John Smith house and opened fire on the Confederates, driving them back into their breastworks. At 11:00 A.M., two newly arrived Union brigades attacked the Confederates in front while the brigade of Colonel Henry Case assaulted the Confederate right flank, forcing the Confederates to withdraw into their second line of works.