While Confederate Cavalry commander Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler was absent raiding Union supply lines from North Georgia to East Tennessee, Union Army commander Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman sent cavalry Brig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick to raid Confederate supply lines. Leaving on August 18, Kilpatrick hit the Atlanta & West Point Railroad that evening and disabled a small area of the track. Next, he proceeded for Lovejoy's Station on the Macon & Western Railroad. In transit, on August 19, Kilpatrick's men attacked the Jonesborough supply depot on the Macon & Western Railroad, burning great amounts of supplies. On August 20, they reached Lovejoy's Station and began their destruction. Confederate Infantry (Patrick Cleburne's Division) appeared and the raiders were forced to fight into the night, fi