The last line or two tells the story. The Corps was led by Stephen D. Lee, who had just arrived from department command in Alabama and Mississippi. Lee's orders were to take up a defensive position near the poor house on Lickskillet Road, but Lee found that ground already occupied by the Federals. Just as he had at Tupelo MS a couple of weeks earlier, Lee threw his troops at the Federal lines in a clumsy, costly attack. Lee's action brought the Federal advance to a temporary halt, but Federal losses were completely out of proportion to losses suffered by the Confederates, and the battle proved quite damaging to morale in Hood's army.