DECEMBER 4, 1864:
The Battle of Waynesboro, Georgia:
Having reinforced after the battle of Buckhead Creek, General
Joseph Wheeler C.S.A. again attempts to break the momentum of Sherman’s March
To The Sea by attacking Sherman’s wings. Skirmishes have been going on for the
last week, a week in which Wheeler has had notably little success. Today he
attacks Brigadier General Judson Kilpatrick’s cavalry which have laid waste to
the town of Waynesboro. Kilpatrick, who has been reinforced to Division
strength, finds that Wheeler’s forces have dug in around ruined Waynesboro, and
furious fighting commences just outside of the town. Ultimately, Kilpatrick’s
men break through. Wheeler is forced to retreat from Waynesboro. He takes a
blocking position on the road to Augusta which he assumes (mistakenly) is
Sherman’s ultimate objective. Both sides lose approximately 300 men at
Waynesboro, and the skirmishing goes on.
Kilpatrick
is one of the great “characters” of the Civil War. His nickname was
“Killcavalry” because of the often reckless tactics he employed. During The
March To The Sea, Kilpatrick found true ecstasy in destroying Southern
property. When he wasn’t despoiling the South he was seducing its women, and
twice had to flee the Rebels buck naked, once when the boys in gray arrived
unexpectedly at his temporary paramour’s home, and once again when a
Confederate husband who was serving with Hardee’s forces came back to his home
to surprise his wife, who he found in
flagrante delicto with Kilpatrick.
One can only assume that both husband and wife were equally, though not pleasantly,
surprised. Kilpatrick is an ancestor of
Gloria Vanderbilt and Anderson Cooper.
