I’m slowly starting to do some research on the local battles. King’s Tanyard was the site of the heavy skirmish on what is now the Barrow County/Jackson County border. After General Stoneman’s (USA) defeat and capture at the Battle of Sunshine Church, portions of his force broke out and tried to escape or fight their way back to Union lines. Colonel Horace Capron (USA) and Colonel Adams (USA) were able to meet up and then decided to attack Athens. They were thwarted in that attempt by the home guard and some invalids while also being pursued by Confederates from the Sunshine Church Engagement. Leaving Athens they took different roads and Capron took the wrong road which led him toward Jug Tavern (present day Winder, GA). A number of slaves began following Capron’s cavalry which further slowed his escape. IN the late night of August 2nd, 1864 Capron allowed his men to take a few hours nap near King’s Tan Yard not far from the County Line School house. In the predawn hours of August 3rd, elements of Williams’ Kentucky Brigade (CSA), also called the Orphan Brigade, surprised the sleeping Yankees quickly overrunning the pickets. Capron’s troops were also at a disadvantage because over half of them had lost their guns escaping from Sunshine Church. The engagement became a running or moving one as the Federal forces performed a fight retreat moving downhill towards the Mulberry River. The panic of the escaped slaves and unarmed Union cavalrymen led to a mass of people on the bridge over the river which failed under the weight. Capron and 6 men escaped back to union lines.

I will continue to share more of my research as i get it cleaned up including soldiers involved and such. I have noticed a lot of error between Confederate and Union sources as far the treatment of the captured Yankees and the causalities of the battle. Attached is a photo of a portion of the widow’s pension for James Parker of the 14th Illinois Cavalry, you’ll noticed in the description he was captured at Mulberry . As I develop these research points I will share them. Below is an article from a local paper describing the incident.

“May 24, 1901—Battle of King’s Tan Yard—General Stoneman was raiding Middle Georgia and met Major General Williams of Kentucky, who defeated him at some point north of Macon. General Stoneman retreated in the direction of Athens, and in passing out of Watkinsville he asked a little girl if there were any soldiers at Athens. She replied “Yes, sir, lots of them” when the fact of the matter was far different. Captain Ed Lumpkin, hearing of General Stoneman’s approach, with his company had placed his battery of artillery in position at the papermill, so as to cover the road in the direction of Watkinsville. As soon as the head of the column of raiders made its appearance, Captain Lumpkin opened fire upon them, and Stoneman turned his course to the left, and coming into Jackson county, encamped for the night at King’s Tan Yard. General Williams pursued, after defeating General Stoneman, and overtaking him at this camp about daylight, completely surprised him, and in the fight which followed, killed a large number of the Federals and took 500 prisoners. The Federals retreated, but kept up a running fight from King’s Tan Yard to Price’s Bridge, a distance I suppose of five or six miles. Many of them, in their frantic efforts to escape, forced their horses into the Mulberry River, and were killed while vainly endeavoring to urge them up the opposite bank. General Stoneman escaped, and made a beeline for Atlanta. King’s Tan Yard is near the Jackson/Gwinnett line, on the place owned by Mr. Richard Pentecost, and the bullet holes in the walls at the old building are there today. Prices’s bridge is about one and a half miles south of Hoschton over the Mulberry. This the only battle in the War between the States which occurred in Jackson county. “