Battle of Griswoldville

Part of the American Civil War

Date	November 22, 1864
Location	Griswoldville, Georgia in Jones County, Georgia 32°52′10″N 83°27′36″W / 32.869500°N 83.460023°W / 32.869500; -83.460023Coordinates: 32°52′10″N 83°27′36″W / 32.869500°N 83.460023°W / 32.869500; -83.460023
Result	Union victory

Belligerents

United States (Union)

CSA (Confederacy)

Commanders and leaders

Charles C. Walcutt
Charles R. Woods

Joseph Wheeler
Pleasant J. Philips

Strength

1,500

4,500

Casualties and losses

94 total,
13 dead,
79 wounded,
2 captured

~1,123 total,
51 dead,
472 wounded,
~600 captured

The Battle of Griswoldville was the first battle of Sherman's March to the Sea, fought November 22, 1864, during the American Civil War. A Union Army brigade under Brig. Gen. Charles C. Walcutt fought three brigades of Georgia militia under Brig. Gen. Pleasant J. Philips, at Griswoldville, near Macon, Georgia, and continued its march toward Savannah.

Sherman, victorious in the lengthy Atlanta Campaign, had refitted his army and recently departed from Atlanta on a march designed to reach the Atlantic Coast at Savannah. The right wing of Sherman's force was the Army of the Tennessee, commanded by Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard. It encountered the first resistance to its march in Griswoldville. Walcutt was ordered to make a demonstration with his brigade (2nd Brigade, 1st Division, XV Corps) of six infantry regiments and one artillery battery (Battery B, 1st Michigan), toward Macon to ascertain the disposition of enemy troops in that direction. Union cavalry under Brig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick had struck Griswoldville on November 21, capturing a train of 13 cars loaded with military supplies, and burning the station and some factory buildings.

Early on November 22, a detachment of Confederate cavalry under Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler attacked the 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry on the Gordon Road, killing one man, wounding two, and capturing eighteen. The 9th then charged the Confederates and drove them back nearly a mile across a creek, where the enemy was found in force, posted in order of battle. The Confederates advanced and drove in the Union skirmishers, but the 9th Pennsylvania and 5th Kentucky Cavalry made a saber charge that forced the Confederates to retire to their works. At this point, Walcutt's infantry brigade and artillery battery joined the cavalry.

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