Where 'Fighting Joe' Wheeler whupped 'em: A quick revisit to the Brown's Mill cavalry battlefield outside Atlanta

Scenes from Brown's Mill (All park photos by Civil War Picket)

I made a brief stop Saturday afternoon at Brown’s Mill Battlefield Historic Site in Coweta County, Ga. The park is just a few miles from Newnan, which was home to a half dozen Confederate hospitals during the Civil War.

But the area also is known for a cavalry clash that ended in a disaster for Federal forces.

I had not visited the 200-acre, county-operated site in several years. The Brown’s Mill park includes a few interpretive signs, walking and bike trails and a parade field suitable for re-enactments. (The Picket wrote about the battle and the opening of the park in these articles from  2011 and 2013.)

My focus this visit was a June 1908 monument remembering the only battle fought in Coweta County. Erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, it pays tribute to cavalrymen under the command of Lt. Gen. Joseph “Fighting Joe” Wheeler.

In recent years, I have read about how often Union Maj. Gen. William Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign was stymied by the performance of his cavalry.

Notwithstanding Brig. Gen. Kenner Garrard's success during a July 1864 raid east of Atlanta, historians and others have pointed out that Sherman did not have much confidence in his top cavalry division commanders. They lacked aggressiveness and competence and often suffered from self-doubt. And, observers say, Sherman was often ineffective in using his troopers to meet objectives.

Charlie Crawford, president of the Georgia Battlefields Association, last year told me that Garrard may have been the best division chief – when compared to Edward McCook, Judson Kilpatrick and George Stoneman -- “but that’s not saying much.”

McCook (left) suffered ignominy at Brown’s Mill on July 30, 1864.

Sherman had tasked McCook and Maj. Gen. Stoneman with cutting vital railroads south of Atlanta so that he would not have to engage in a prolonged siege of Atlanta. McCook, after damaging some track at Lovejoy Station, hoped to rendezvous with Stoneman. He had nearly 3,000 men under his command.

But Stoneman had chosen to ride toward Macon, with the hope of reaching the large Confederate prison at Andersonville to the south. 

With no rendezvous, McCook hurried toward the Chattahoochee River and  Federal lines to the north. Wheeler (right), hot on the Union cavalry's trail, pursued them from Newnan and ambushed the exhausted forces at Brown's Mill. 

A report written for the park's master plan describes the dismounted fighting and this detail:

"As Major Root and the 8th Iowa formed for the charge, Wheeler renewed the assault on McCook’s right. 'Follow me! My brave men!' he commanded. A wild Rebel yell answered the little general as he led his Texans and Tennesseans back into the fight. At the same time, 'Sul' Ross’s Texas brigade came up on their right, dismounted, and joined the fight.”

The attack overwhelmed McCook's flank.

“Wheeler had his best day as a soldier,” said Crawford. “This is where McCook lost control and was broken up.”  McCook held a brief council of war, suggesting the force surrender. Other officers decided to fight and McCook basically gave up command. It was every man for himself then, with separate columns attempting to break out from the trap.

Men fled toward the river and more than 1,200 were taken prisoner over the new few days (the monument mistakenly has a much lower figure). Some men, including an officer naked except for his hat, managed to swim or take a few ferries to safety.

Wheeler's force of about 1,400 riders also freed about 500 Confederate prisoners and seized supplies. It was a bloody debacle, in which there was saber-to-saber fighting, a trail of bodies and the heroic actions of a Union trooper who received the Medal of Honor.

A day later, Stoneman was defeated and captured at the Battle of Sunshine Creek.

The Union cavalry clearly failed to attain its goal in the McCook-Stoneman raid, forcing Sherman to change tactics and besiege Atlanta and use infantry at Jonesboro, wrote historian David Evans in his book “Sherman’s Horsemen."

Brown's Mill was one of few Confederate victories during the Atlanta Campaign. The fighting at Brown's Mill cost McCook about 100 killed and wounded, while Wheeler's casualties probably numbered less than 50, according to Evans.

The Coweta County park is along Millard Farmer Road hear the intersection with Old Corinth Road. It was the scene of much of the heaviest fighting. 

An interpretive panel near the monument details some of the units involved at Brown’s Mill.