On Nov. 22, 1864, a Confederate force marching from Macon toward Augusta under the temporary command of Brigadier General Pleasant J. Phillips, recently pressed into service and poorly trained and equipped, moved to reinforce Augusta as Sherman's presumed next objective. They met Sherman's right flank guard, Brigadier General Charles C. Walcutt's brigade, whose seasoned Federal veterans included many armed with Spencer repeating rifles. Phillips formed his men in line of battle on a wooded ridge and, for some never adequately explained reason, ordered an all out assault across a creek and open field. The Confederates made repeated courageous but unsuccessful assaults, sustained heavy losses, and reached an approximate high water mark at the center of their attack before the final assault failed. Federal soldiers then confronted a field of dead and wounded that included old grey haired men and boys not over 15 years old. That night Phillips withdrew his depleted forces back into the fortifications of Macon. Colonel Charles Colcock Jones, General Hardee's Chief of Artillery, judged the battle an unfortunate accident that was unnecessary, unexpected, and utterly unproductive of any good, and said it might have been avoided by proper caution and circumspection.