The cavalry accompanying Sherman’s left wing is under the command of General Judson Kilpatrick. What little Rebel opposition this northern half of Sherman’s army has garnered has come from Confederate General Joseph Wheeler’s cavalry. Shadowing and harassing the Federals, Wheeler has occasionally attacked, resulting in minor, pitched skirmishes.
On November 26 the Federals, advancing toward the town of Waynesboro, burned a wooden railroad bridge in order to slow Wheeler. The Confederate commander, however, successfully drove Union forces away from the bridge, albeit not before the flames had largely consumed the structure. Rushing to the nearby Big Buckhead Baptist Church, the Rebels confiscated pews which they then used to repair the structure.
Wheeler’s forces, however, were too late to prevent the Federals from entering Waynesboro the following day, where they destroyed rail cars and other property before the Confederates finally advanced, once more, upon them on the 28th.
Afterwards, Wheeler took up defensive positions near Waynesboro. Kilpatrick, remaining in the area, gathered together his full division. This morning he returns to Waynesboro to settle matters with Wheeler.
The superior Federal force fights through a series of Confederate-constructed barricades and repels a charge, finally forcing the Rebels into a full retreat. For the next few days Kilpatrick pursues the enemy, providing Sherman more time to march closer to Savannah with no resistance.
The Big Buckhead Baptist Church, third oldest Baptist church in Georgia and host of the 1831 Georgia Baptist Convention at which a resolution was passed to establish what would one day become Mercer University, survives the war.
Sources: “Sherman’s March to the Sea,” New Georgia Encyclopedia (link); Battle of Waynesboro (link) and (link); “Big Buckhead Baptist, Jenkins” (link)
