THE STONEMAN RAID

Closing in on Atlanta in July, 1864, Maj. Gen. W.T. Sherman found

it “too strong to assault and too extensive to invest”. To force its

evacuation, he sent Maj. Gen. Geo. Stoneman’s cavalry to cut the

Macon railway by which Atlanta’s defenders were supplied. At the

Battle of Sunshine Church (19 miles NE of Macon). Stoneman surrendered

with 600 men to Brig. Gen. Alfred Iverson, Jr., after covering

the escape of Adams’ and Capron’s brigades. Both retreated via Athens,

intending to resupply their commands here and to “destroy the armory

and other government works”.

At the bridge over Middle Oconee River (4 miles SW), they were

stopped by Home guard units with artillery. Unable to cross, they

turned west: Capron on the Hog Mountain Road through Jug Tavern

(Winder), and Adams on roads farther north by which he reached the

Union lines near Marietta without further loss.

While resting his exhausted command briefly at King’s Tanyard (NW of

Winder), Capron was surprised before dawn on the 3rd by William’s Kentucky brigade. About 430 men were captured, Capron himself and a few

others escaping through the woods. The prisoners were brought to Athens

by Col. W.C.P. Breckinridge, 9th Kentucky Cavalry, and held under guard on

the college campus until they could be sent to the prison at Andersonville.

029-6 GEORGIA HISTORICAL MARKER 1984

[Replaced Georgia Historical Commission marker 029-6,

with the same text, erected in 1957]