Kilpatrick’s Cavalry on the Newnan Stage Road

Kilpatrick’s Cavalry on the Newnan Stage Road. . On November 14, 1864, the third cavalry of General Sherman’s Military Division of the Mississippi [USA], Brig. General Judson L. Kilpatrick, [USA], 5500 men and 6 guns, marched from Marietta via Mayson-Turner Ferry (Bankhead Highway bridge) and bivouacked 4 miles southwest of Atlanta on the Newman Stage Road (Hardee Avenue in Fort McPherson). Kilpatrick’s division had been selected by General Sherman as the cavalry component of a reduced field force with which he was about to move through Georgia to the sea., On the 15th, the Right Wing of General Sherman’s army, Maj. General O.O. Howard, [USA], marched from bivouac areas near White Hall (West End) in two columns. The 15th Corps, Maj. General P. J. Osterhaus, [USA], moved via Old Jonesboro Road (Langston Ave – Perkerson Road – Stewart Ave. – Old Jonesboro Rd) toward Jonesboro. The 17th Corps, Maj. General F. P. Blair, [USA], moved via McDonough Road (Capitol Ave. – McDonough Blvd. – U.S. 23) toward Stockbridge. Kilpatrick marched at dawn, covering Howard’s right flank. He moved past East Point, turned south along Flint River, and attacked Iverson’s smaller cavalry division [CSA], driving it through Jonesboro and toward Lovejoy’s Station, 6 miles to the south.