Fayette County natives Bobby Kerlin and John Lynch share a common great-greatgrandfather, William Robert Whatley. During the War Between the States, Whatley served in Co. C, 4th Regiment, Georgia State Militia, where he served as a 4th Lieutenant, and was wounded in the Battle of Griswoldville.

Though Whatley was wounded in the battle, he returned home to live until 1910, dying just one month short of his 100th birthday. He served in the Georgia Legislature from Fayette County from 1881 to 1883 and also served as Postmaster for Fayetteville.

Kerlin and Lynch descend from Whatley's second wife, Emily Jane Neal and are pleased that this site has been preserved.

In November, 1864, Gen. William T. Sherman began his infamous March to the Sea, marching from a burned out Atlanta to Savannah.

While the Confederates outnumbered the right wing of Sherman's army at this site, the Union forces were all battle veterans with the newest equipment, and the Confederates were all uninitiated soldiers with poor equipment. The battle went on for most of the day, however at the end of it the Confederates had more casualties than any other fight in the Civil War in proportion to the number of troops engaged.

The town of Griswoldville is 10 miles east of Macon and was begun the late 1840's by Samuel Griswold, from Connecticut. By 1864 the town consisted of 500 citizens, and the cotton mills had been turned into manufacturing revolvers, in fact he produced more revolvers than all the other Confederate revolver makers put together. By the end of November, 1964, the Civil War was headed his way.

At the end of the war, there were only 29 citizens left in Griswoldville and the town never rebuilt.

The Georgia Militia was a state unit and was often referred to as "cradle and grave" units, for they were usually made up of boys younger than 16 and men older than 60 years of age. It was called out to meet Union forces at Griswoldville on Nov. 22, 1864.