On July 22, 1864, Walker's and Bate's divisions of Hardee's Army Corps, Confederate States, struck the two brigades of Mersy and Rice in Sweeny's 16th Army Corps division, United States, as they were en route to support the 17th in east Atlanta. Walker's troops came up the Sugar Creek valley from the south, and Bates's from the high ground to the east. Sweeny's men hastily formed a defensive line, with Rice facing east and Mersy south, the apex of the lines atop the hill where Laird's 14th Ohio Battery was posted and where Murphy High School stands. Blodgett's Missouri Battery H was at Rice's center, facing east. Though greatly outnumbered, Sweeny held the position and foiled Hardee's thrust at the Federal rear.