On Nov. 28, 1864, Union Brig. Gen. J. L. Kilpatrick's 3rd Cavalry Division, USA, was driven south from Waynesboro by Confederate Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler's Cavalry Corps, Army of Tennessee, CSA. Retreating under constant harassment, Kilpatrick's command began crossing Buckhead Creek east of the church. Its rear guard, the Second and Third Kentucky cavalry regiments, was attacked before crossing, but with support from the Fifth Kentucky, the Ninth Pennsylvania, and the Tenth Wisconsin Battery, it repelled the attack, crossed, and burned the bridge behind it. After the crossing was defended by the Fifth Ohio Cavalry, Wheeler moved upstream, crossed, and attacked again as Kilpatrick's command entrenched about three miles west of the church near Reynolds' plantation. Wheeler sent Dibrell's brigade against the right, Ashby's brigade to turn the left, and launched a frontal charge with the Third Arkansas and Eighth and Eleventh Texas cavalry regiments, but as darkness fell Kilpatrick extricated his command and retreated six miles toward Louisville, where Sherman's Left Wing was encamped. Wheeler then resumed attacking Union foraging parties seeking animals and provisions from the countryside.