The Cavalry Actions at Waynesboro

Late on Nov. 26, 1864, elements of the 3rd Cavalry Division, USA, under Brig. Gen. J.L. Kilpatrick of Gen. Sherman's army, reached the railroad bridge north of Waynesboro and partially burned it before troops of the Cavalry Corps, Army of Tennessee, CSA, under Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler drove them off. The next day Kilpatrick entered Waynesboro and destroyed a train of cars and much private property before Wheeler drove him from the town, then attacked his camp south of Waynesboro at dawn the following day and pushed him southwest beyond Buckhead Creek toward Louisville. Early on Dec. 4, Kilpatrick, supported by two brigades of Baird's infantry division, 14th Corps, USA, advanced from Thomas' Station, 6 miles south, to burn the bridges over Brier Creek north and east of Waynesboro. Finding Wheeler's men deployed astride the road, Kilpatrick attacked, and after hard fighting Wheeler retired to Waynesboro. There he checked Kilpatrick's larger force with a charge by Texas and Tennessee troops to gain time to withdraw across Brier Creek and block the road to Augusta, which at the time appeared to be the objective of Gen. Sherman's army. At Brier Creek, Kilpatrick burned the rail and wagon bridges and withdrew, and the supporting infantry brigades marched toward Jacksonboro and rejoined the rest of Baird's division, encamped at Alexander, followed that evening by Kilpatrick's command, which camped at Old Church on the old Quaker Road.

Waynesboro, Georgia · United States