For those interested in Civil War Tours and Georgia history, the following is a video produced by Blair on the Square about the unusual resistance that the Yankees met in Covington, Georgia during the Civil War. Enjoy!
On the 20th of July, 1864, General William Sherman, one of the most renowned commanders of the Union army, ordered his general Garrard to take his troops to Covington to destroy strategic locations and storehouses. Two days later Garrard’s cavalry rode into town to follow Sherman’s orders. There were very few people left to oppose them, since most of the able men were away fighting on other fronts of the war. For the most part Covington was home to women, children, and the sick and wounded soldiers from various other battlegrounds.
Strangely enough, Covington did have one defense that the Union soldiers did not see coming. Presley Jones, an elderly man, and one of the town’s residents, heard that soldiers were riding into town. He loaded his rifle and managed to shoot two Union soldiers dead before being killed. With this unusual defense demolished, Garrard continued with the plan. He succeeded in destroying three bridges around Covington, burned two supply depots, two thousand bails of cotton, and a large number of army supplies that would have been used to outfit Confederate soldiers for further fighting.
Come visit Covington, Georgia to take our Civil War Tours and experience the history!
