Ocmulgee National Monument


rch to the Sea" became a major factor in the ultimate outcome of the conflict. That march led Union forces to Macon.


Union and Confederate forces first met at Macon on July 30, 1864, in an encounter called "The Battle of Dun lap Hill;" better known as "The Stone man Raid." Major General George Stoneman, already involved in the conquest of Georgia, saw the potential for strengthening Union forces by freeing men in two Central Georgia prison camps. During the Atlanta Campaign, he received permission from his commander, Major General W. T. Sherman, to take the city of Macon. Stoneman, with a well-armed calvary corps, could then free the officers imprisoned at Camp Oglethorpe in Macon and the many enlisted men at Andersonville, about 45 miles further South.

Upon reaching Macon, Stoneman occupied the Dunlap House, set up temporary entrenchments in the yard, and began to shell the city. Stoneman didn't know that the city had advance warning of his arrival. On the morning of July 30th, Georgia's Governor Joseph Brown and Confederate officers, Major General Howell Cobb and General Joseph E. Johnston, brought together 2,500 boys, older men and convalescing soldiers for Macon's defense. George Stoneman found himself imprisoned at Camp Oglethorpe and his men were sent to Andersonville, the very prisons he sought to liberate.

The only lasting effect of "The Stoneman Raid" on Macon occurred when a Union cannonball, aimed at Confederate Treasurer William Butler Johnston's home, struck the home of Judge Asa Holt. Today the Cannonball House and the Johnston-Hay House attract visitors from all over the world.


The second military encounter at Dunlap Farm took place on November 20-21, 1864. This action was a diversionary ploy for the major troop movements of General Sherman's Union force through Middle Georgia. In October 1864, as a reaction to "The Stoneman Raid" and news of the destruction Federal troops had inflicted throughout Georgia, additional defense construction was made for the city of Macon. It is believed that the gun emplacement on the Dunlap Trail was built as a part of this additional defense system. But regardless of when the earthwork was constructed, its 12-pound Napoleon gun and 8 others played an important role in the "Battle of Walnut Creek." When Brigadier General Judson Kilpatrick and his men reached Macon, they were met by elements of Wheeler's Confederate Calvary, made up of the 1st and 2nd Convalescent Regiments, the 24th Tennessee, Captain Albrough's command, Captain Atkins' company and nine cannons.

An Eyewitness Account:

A Union calvaryman later explained:

"The regiment was not engaged again until the arrival of the command at Macon... when during the demonstration made by General Kilpatrick... the regiment was ordered to make a saber-charge along the Clinton and Macon Road, and from which the enemy were firing. The distance to reach the guns was something over half a mile, along a road through deep woods, which concealed the enemy's guns and their works. "The regiment... charged along the road, reached the enemy's guns, which were in a redoubt, completely blocking the road, there being room only for two horses to enter the works abreast. In the rear of, and also extending from both flanks of the redoubt, were long lines of breastworks and rifle pits, filled with infantry. On the left of the road there was also a battery commanding the road and the point from which the regiment charged it. As the head of the column entered the redoubts, the first line of the enemy's infantry... seemed to be stampeded. The second line, however, were seen advancing from the woods... and seeing that the guns could not be removed, and that there was barely time to withdraw the regiment before the rebel infantry would be upon us, I ordered the column to retire under fire from enemy guns."

Text by Dianne D. Wilcox