149th anniversary of the Battle of Dunlap Hill - Macon, Georgia

Dunlap House at Ocmulgee National Monument

Today is the 149th anniversary of the day that "Stoneman's cavalry came to tear up the tracks again" at Macon, Georgia (to borrow a line from the old song, "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down").

Confederate Gen. Howell Cobb was waiting at Macon with a force of Georgia Reserves, militia and a few regular troops. With them he would turn on Union Gen. George H. Stoneman who was raiding south from near Atlanta with 2,000 men in hopes of liberating the Federal prisoners of war at Camp Oglethorpe in Macon and Camp Sumter at Andersonville. 

Confederate Fortifications at Dunlap Hill

The action, fought on the northern edge of Macon and in part on the grounds of today's Ocmulgee National Monument, is remembered today as the Battle of Dunlap Hill or Battle of Dunlap's Farm. A Confederate victory, it ended any hopes Stoneman had of riding on to Andersonville and instead set in motion a change of events that would lead to him becoming the highest ranking Union officer captured during the entire Civil War!

A preliminary action to the coming Battle of Sunshine Church, but an important encounter that turned the tide of Stoneman's Georgia Raid, the Battle of Dunlap Hill was a significant event in the history of the Atlanta Campaign.

Read more about the battle at:

• http://southernhistory.blogspot.com/2013/07/battle-of-dunlap-hill-149th-anniversary.html.
• www.exploresouthernhistory.com/dunlaphill.

And be sure to watch for more tomorrow and throughout the week on the Battle of Sunshine Church!