Before dawn on July 27, 1864, McCook's 1,600 cavalrymen mounted near Mayson's Church west of Atlanta, crossed the Chattahoochee River at Turner's Ferry, and then waited while engineers dismantled the pontoon bridge; with the arrival of Colonel Tom Harrison and 1,400 more troopers, the column grew to 3,000 men. Delays from weary mules and Confederate pickets forced McCook past his planned crossing near Campbellton to Smith's Ferry, where on the afternoon of July 28 he finally crossed and, running a day behind schedule, sent Major Nathan Paine and the 1st Wisconsin Cavalry toward Campbellton as a distraction. That evening the raiders entered Palmetto, burned the depot, and tore up several hundred yards of the Atlanta & West Point Railroad, then rode through the night and shortly before dawn surprised and captured 1,100 Confederate supply wagons near Fayetteville, captured the teamsters, burned the wagons, and killed hundreds of mules. The column then reached the Macon & Western Railroad at Lovejoy's Station early on July 29, where, finding no sign of Stoneman, McCook sent scouts north and east while his men pulled down telegraph wires and tore up track. The scouts soon reported not Stoneman but Confederate cavalry under Major General Joe Wheeler approaching rapidly. To General John Bell Hood, the raid appeared to be a diversion connected to Union infantry movement toward his left, while reports of Stoneman's operations convinced Wheeler that Union forces meant to cut the Macon railroad; with Hood's approval, Wheeler sent three brigades under Brigadier General Alfred Iverson, Jr., was later released to join the pursuit himself, directed Iverson to follow Stoneman rapidly after learning Garrard had halted at Flat Shoals on South River while Stoneman moved toward Covington, and early on July 29 turned with his men toward Jonesboro after receiving Hood's warning that Union raiders were approaching from the west.