On July 19, 1864, the 15th and 17th Corps, two of the three corps in McPherson’s Army of the Tennessee and the left wing of Sherman’s forces advancing on Atlanta, passed this way on the last day of their march from Roswell to Decatur. The other corps, Dodge’s 16th, reached Decatur by way of Shallow Ford and Clairmont roads west of here. This wide swing to the southeast from Roswell was intended to destroy the Georgia Railroad between Stone Mountain and Decatur, where Garrard’s cavalry division on McPherson’s left was especially active. McPherson’s troops were the ones attacked by Hood’s forces in east Atlanta on July 22.