By Wednesday evening, November 16, 1864, after marching from the vicinity of Stockbridge, two Federal infantry corps camped around McDonough, the seat of Henry County. The 17th Corps, more than 11,000 strong and commanded by Major General Francis P. Blair, Jr., spent the night two miles north of McDonough on the Charles Walker plantation, while almost 16,000 men in the 15th Corps under Major General Peter J. Osterhaus camped in and near the town. Together they formed the Right Wing, commanded by Major General Oliver O. Howard, of Major General William T. Sherman's army, and McDonough was designated by Sherman as an initial rendezvous point for the Right Wing after the beginning of the March to the Sea. At McDonough, the whole of the 15th Corps was assembled for the first time with its divisions in supporting distance of each other. On the morning of November 16, First Lieutenant William H. Sherfy, a signal officer in the 15th Corps, rejoined the rest of his detachment, and that day Federal troops met the enemy at McDonough and helped drive a brigade of Confederate cavalry from the town, pursuing it for several miles with little support. The Confederate force was mounted infantry from Kentucky known as the Orphan Brigade, commanded by Brigadier General Joseph H. Lewis. Federal officers promised local physician Doctor Lewis M. Tye that their army would not burn the town, and McDonough was not burned, but soldiers still damaged stores, residences, churches, schools, the courthouse, and McDonough Collegiate Seminary through looting. In the city cemetery, many graves had headstones destroyed and jewelry taken from the dead. The Baptist church west of the square was heavily damaged after soldiers destroyed its furnishings and used the building to butcher slaughtered cattle and hogs, leaving bloody remains on the floor. On the morning of November 17, the Right Wing divided again as it left town: two divisions of the 17th Corps moved east from McDonough on the Old Jackson road, the third division marched to Lofton along the Key's Ferry road, and the entire 15th Corps moved south toward Locust Grove.