In 1863, Mrs. J. Brown Morgan formed a company of women soldiers in LaGrange called the Nancy Harts in honor of Georgia’s Revolutionary War heroine. Organized to defend LaGrange in the absence of its men, they drilled, practiced target shooting, and became proficient at both. On April 17, 1865, word arrived that a column of Union cavalry was approaching LaGrange from the west. The force, the 2nd Brig., 1st Div., of Wilson’s cavalry corps under Col. O. H. LaGrange of the 1st Wis. Cav., had crossed the Chattahoochee River at West Point the previous day, captured Fort Tyler, destroyed the bridges and rail facilities, and wrecked 19 locomotives, 340 cars loaded with army supplies, and valuable machinery while tearing up the railroad on the march toward LaGrange. The Nancy Harts mobilized at once, resolved to resist any depredations, but they were spared combat. Colonel LaGrange, seeing them formed to meet him, praised their fearless spirit and martial bearing, then after a brief delay marched on toward Macon, leaving LaGrange unharmed apart from the broken railroad.