On the night of Nov. 17, 1864, the Right Wing of General Sherman’s U.S. army, consisting of the 15th and 17th Corps and marching south from Atlanta on its March to the Sea, reached Jackson. The headquarters of the Department and Army of the Tennessee under Maj. Gen. O.O. Howard and the headquarters of both corps were established in town. Woods’ and Hazen’s divisions of the 15th Corps, under Osterhaus, had turned south below Locust Grove to avoid Jackson and camped near Liberty Church, six miles southwest; Smith’s division moved through Jackson to Flovilla, five miles southeast; and Corse’s division, delayed by wagon trains, arrived the next day. In the 17th Corps under Blair, Mower’s and Leggett’s divisions camped east of Jackson, while G.A. Smith’s division, accompanied by the 1st Missouri Engineers with a pontoon train, marched by the Key’s Ferry road and camped near Worthville, nine miles northeast. Kilpatrick’s cavalry division, moving down the Towaliga River to threaten Griffin and Forsyth, camped near that stream. That night, Osterhaus sent the 29th Missouri Mounted Infantry to seize the ferry at Planters’ Factory on the Ocmulgee River at Seven Islands, nine miles southeast, and secure both banks there for the army’s crossing the next day.