Just before dawn, July 30, 1864, during a daring cavalry raid to cut the last two railroads supplying Atlanta, Union Brig. Gen. Edward M. McCook ordered the 4th Kentucky Mounted Infantry to halt near the Asa Mitchell house at Shakerag. While two companies dismounted and began barricading the road where it crested this ridge, Lt. Col. Robert Kelly deployed the rest of his men to hold any pursuing Confederates at bay until daylight. When hoof beats approached in the darkness, they opened fire. Recoiling before "a murderous volley," Confederate Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler ordered Lt. Col. Paul Anderson's 4th Tennessee Cavalry to dismount and attack on foot while troopers from the 8th Texas, 1st Tennessee, and the 9th Tennessee Battalion spurred toward both flanks. Kelly's men repulsed five separate assaults. Both sides suffered many casualties before Wheeler led a headlong charge that broke the Union line, capturing Kelly, about 200 of his men, and routing the rest. These heavy losses destroyed McCook's rear guard. Leaving the wounded with local families, Wheeler continued his relentless pursuit of the raiders toward Newnan.
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