Battle of Buckhead Creek - Jenkins County, GA The Battle of Buckhead Creek (also called the Action at Buckhead Church) took place on November 28, 1864. It was part of Shermans March to the Sea. The fight took place at Buckhead Creek and within sight of Big Buckhead Church, a noted landmark in Jenkins County, Georgia. The church still stands in the Perkins Community about 7.5 miles from Millen. The battle took place as the massive army of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman burned its was through Georgia in the fall of 1864. With Atlanta in ashes, Shermans men carved a swath of destruction and terror as they marched to Savannah and the sea. Hoping to free thousands of Union prisoners of war from Camp Lawton, a prison stockade at Magnolia Springs in Millen, Sherman sent a large cavalry force under Brig. Gen. Judson Kill Cavalry Kilpatrick to burn the railroad bridge over Briar Creek and then advance on Millen. Kilpatrick drove north from the left wing of the main army on November 24, 1864. The plan was for him trick Confederates into thinking that Sherman was advancing on Augusta. As Southern forces concentrated to defend the important military industrial complex there, Sherman would continue his drive for the coast while Kilpatrick destroyed the railroad bridge over Briar Creek and liberated the prisoners at Camp Lawton. The plan succeeded in part. Kilpatricks move caused Confederate forces to concentrate at Augusta, but Maj. Gen. Joseph Fighting Joe Wheeler soon realized that the Union move was a feint. He pushed south from Augusta and reached Briar Creek just in time to stop Kilpatrick from destroying the bridge. Having learned that the prisoners of war had been removed from Camp Lawton by the Confederates, Kilpatrick began to withdraw back to Shermans main army. Wheeler followed. On the night of November 27, 1864, the Union force camped near Buckhead Creek. Wheelers Confederates caught them there early the next morning and attacked.
Posted on: Fri, 27 Jun 2014 04:59:21 +0000
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