After lifting siege operations north and west of Atlanta on August 25, Federal forces moved onto the Atlanta and West Point Railroad below East Point and by August 29 had begun destroying it. To protect the Macon and Western Railroad, later the Central of Georgia Railroad, Hardee’s Army Corps of the Confederate States hastily built and occupied on August 30 a line extending from East Point to Morrow’s and Thames' mills. From there the line ran east to the railroad near Rough and Ready, where Hardee’s command post was alerted to observe Federal movements on Jonesboro. Occupied for only a day, the extended line was abandoned that night by Hardee’s three divisions, Maney’s, Cleburne’s, and Brown’s, and with S.D. Lee’s Army Corps from Atlanta they marched to Jonesboro.