On May 18, 1864, Lieutenant General William J. Hardee's corps marched from Adairsville on the road parallel to the Western and Atlantic Railroad en route to Cass Station. He turned east on this road to join General Polk's and Hood's Confederate corps at Cassville which had moved on the direct Adairsville - Cassville Road. Sherman erred when he assumed that all of Johnston's army had marched from Adairsville, as Hardee had, to Kingston. This resulted in his ordering his forces concentrated here—discovering later that the Confederates were east at Cassville and not at the Etowah River south of Kingston.