Five DeKalb County courthouses have stood in the center of Decatur since 1823. The third courthouse, which stood from 1847 to 1898, was the place where DeKalb County's two anti-secession delegates were chosen for Georgia's secession convention in January 1861, and it later stood at the center of numerous military actions in 1864. On July 19, 1864, the 15th, 16th, and 17th Corps of Union Major General James B. McPherson's Army of the Tennessee, part of Union Major General William T. Sherman's command, camped overnight in Decatur before moving southwest across the county toward the Battle of Atlanta on July 22. Union Brigadier General Kenner Garrard assembled his cavalry division in Decatur on July 20, left on July 21 to destroy the railroad eastward toward Covington, and returned on July 24. When Confederate General John B. Hood planned the Battle of Atlanta, he directed Major General Joseph Wheeler's cavalry to attack the wagon trains of McPherson's army, which were still in Decatur under the guard of Union Colonel John W. Sprague's brigade. On July 22, Wheeler's dismounted cavalry deployed south of the railroad, drove Sprague's command north to the courthouse, and, after attacking from three sides and outnumbering the Federals, forced Sprague to withdraw about one mile north to present-day North Decatur Road. Sprague wrote that he believed he could hold the courthouse square and the town, but that doing so would not prevent the enemy from attacking the army's wagon trains coming up from Roswell, so he withdrew on Clairmont Road. The Federals then made a stand at their new position, and Wheeler withdrew after receiving orders to rejoin the main Confederate army at Atlanta. As a result of this action, Sprague was promoted to brigadier general and in 1894 was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously. During these events, Mary Gay refused to leave her home on Marshall Street within view of the courthouse, later recounting her experiences in Life in Dixie During the War; she hid clothing in her home for needy Confederate soldiers and later supported herself and others by collecting bullets and artillery shells to trade for food. After these actions, Decatur's citizens endured four more months of enemy activity, including the assembly of Union Major General George Stoneman's cavalry division for its raid toward Macon beginning on July 27, occupation by the 23rd Corps in September 1864 after the surrender of Atlanta, and the passage of Sherman's Left Wing through town on November 15 and 16 after departing Atlanta on the March to the Sea. The current structure served as DeKalb County's courthouse from 1918 to 1967.