Having been ordered by Bragg to attack an area that division commander Maj. Gen. Breckinridge had reconnoitered and determined to be too heavily defended, the First Kentucky Brigade led the charge.
Weeks later, the 6th Kentucky Infantry was called upon to guard the Confederate army's retreat following the Battle of Missionary Ridge.
The First Kentucky Brigade became part of the Atlanta Campaign on May 7, 1864, when they left their winter camps at Dalton, Georgia and took up positions on Rocky Face Ridge.
The regiment became part of the fighting retreating force as Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman pushed the Confederates further back toward Atlanta.
At the Battle of Dallas near New Hope Church, the First Kentucky Brigade made an unsupported charge, losing 51% of its strength.
The following day, the Confederates were overwhelmed when two-thirds of a Union Army division attacked and began to surround their positions.