Griswoldville was a Civil War engagement fought in Georgia, 1864. It was a Union victory.
Brig. Gen. Charles Walcutt was ordered to make a demonstration, with the six infantry regiments and one battery that comprised his brigade, toward Macon to ascertain the disposition of enemy troops in that direction. He set out on the morning of November 22, and after a short march he ran into some of Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler's cavalry and drove them beyond Griswoldville. Having accomplished his mission, Walcutt retired to a position at Duncan's Farm and fortified it with logs and rails to meet an expected Rebel attack force composed of three brigades of Georgia State Militia. The Georgia Militia had been ordered from Macon to Augusta, thinking the latter was Sherman's next objective, and accidentally collided with Walcutt's force. The Union force withstood three determined charges before receiving reinforcements of one regiment of infantry and two regiments of cavalry. The Rebels did not attack again and soon retired.
During the American Civil War, Union forces under Brig. Gen. Charles C. Walcutt engaged Georgia militia commanded by Brig. Gen. Pleasant J. Philips on November 22, 1864, at Griswoldville, an industrial town situated near Macon, Georgia. This clash marked the opening engagement of Sherman's March to the Sea. Walcutt's brigade confronted three brigades of Georgia militia in the fighting that day. Following the battle, Union troops pressed forward on their advance toward Savannah.
Having concluded his triumphant Atlanta campaign, Sherman equipped his troops anew and set them in motion from Atlanta toward Savannah and the Atlantic seaboard. The Army of the Tennessee, the rightmost element of his force under Maj. Gen. Oliver Otis Howard, became the first Union formation to face opposition during this advance. That opposition arose at Griswoldville, where Walcutt received orders to lead his brigade in a probing action. His command consisted of six infantry regiments plus Battery B, 1st Michigan, all drawn from the 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, XV Corps. The demonstration aimed at Macon to determine how enemy forces were distributed in the region. Earlier, on November 21, cavalry troops led by Brig. Gen. Hugh Judson Kilpatrick had descended upon Griswoldville itself, seizing a train of 13 cars containing military stores, then torching both the station and nearby factory structures.
In the early morning of November 22, Confederate cavalry under Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler struck the 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry along the Gordon Road, leaving one soldier dead, two wounded, and eighteen captured. The Pennsylvania regiment responded with a countercharge that pushed Wheeler's mounted troops back roughly a mile until those forces emerged from behind a creek in organized battle formation. Though the Confederates initially scattered Union skirmishers, a combined saber assault by the 9th Pennsylvania and 5th Kentucky Cavalry forced them to withdraw into entrenchments. The arrival of Walcutt's infantry brigade and an artillery battery shifted the tactical balance.
Walcutt deployed a heavy skirmish line that drove the Confederates through Griswoldville before falling back under orders from Brig. Gen. Charles R. Woods, who commanded the division. The force established a strong defensive line at the Duncan farm's edge, positioning troops between open ground and swampy terrain on both flanks. Soldiers constructed a barricade from rails and logs while artillery was moved into supporting range. Three Georgia militia brigades under Brig. Gen. Pleasant J. Philips attacked around 2 p.m. These units had marched from Macon toward Augusta, mistakenly believing Sherman would target that city, and encountered Walcutt's command entirely by chance.
The militia attacked in three successive lines but encountered murderous canister fire. Despite losses, they managed to occupy a ravine approximately 75 yards from Walcutt's fortifications. From this position, they launched three assaults, each repulsed with severe casualties. When attempts to exploit the Federal flanks failed due to cavalry protection, the militia remained in the ravine until nightfall before departing the battlefield. Walcutt sustained wounds early in the fighting, and Col. Robert Francis Catterson of the 97th Regiment Indiana Infantry assumed command of the brigade.
Union casualties in the engagement totaled 13 dead, 79 wounded, and two missing. The Confederates suffered heavier damage, with approximately 51 killed and 472 wounded. Sherman proceeded with his advance toward the sea without interruption. Once the war concluded, Griswoldville, which had functioned as an industrial center producing Confederate military supplies throughout the conflict, remained unrestored and was never developed again.
This page covers Griswoldville. A full Aubrey report for the area pulls together this battle alongside historic sites, land records, and everything else the record holds within a few miles:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
The account on this page is written by Aubrey Research from cited sources. Wikipedia is cited as a reference; its text is not reproduced.
Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any location in the US, drawing on NRHP records, battlefield archives, census history and geological data to tell the full story of a place.