Rough and Ready was a way station on a stage line from Macon to upper Georgia in the 1840's, with a post office from April 5, 1847, to June 24, 1869. It was also a cotton shipping point, and after the Macon and Western Railroad, later the Central of Georgia, was constructed in 1846, the tavern served as an eating house for passengers. After Federal forces ended siege operations on the Atlanta front on August 25, 1864, they moved in a wide swing to the south. To counter this move, Hardee's army corps of the Confederate States was shifted to a line west of here, between East Point and Thames' Mill, and General Hardee established a command post at Rough and Ready at 1 P.M. on August 30 to observe this latest Federal threat to the Macon and Western Railroad.