On Nov. 23, 1864, Maj. Gen. H. C. Wayne, adjutant general of Georgia, was at Oconee with a mixed Confederate force of 1200 men and 6 guns, including the Corps of Cadets of the Georgia Military Institute, to defend the railroad bridge over the Oconee River against forays from Gen. Sherman’s Union army. After learning that enemy cavalry had reached Ball’s Ferry, crossed on rafts, and driven back the Confederate pickets guarding the stream, he sent Maj. A. L. Hartridge with 2 companies of cavalry, 80 infantry, and 2 guns to drive them back across the river. Hartridge arrived about 3:00 P.M., deployed his small force, fought through the swamps east of the river, routed the enemy, entrenched a position along the east bank, and then returned to Oconee with part of his command. On the 25th, Lt. Col. Andrew Young of the 30th Georgia Battalion arrived with a detachment of Gaines’ Alabama cavalry and assumed command. The works were strengthened and skirmishers were deployed on both flanks, but the arrival of strong enemy columns with artillery on the west bank soon made the position untenable. After reporting that the enemy was crossing the river above and below him, he was ordered to extricate his command and withdraw to Tennille, where early on the 26th he was joined by Gen. Wayne and the main body, which had been flanked out of its position at the bridge.