From the night of Tuesday, May 27, 1919 until Wednesday, May 28,1919, morning arsonists burned down at least six black churches and multiple black community buildings in and around Eatonton. The Wheeling Intelligencer claimed the buildings were burnt down because of a "minor racial clash at Dennis Station" when a black man was refused a bottle of soda water. The community raised $1,100 ($19,300 in 2025) reward for any information about the people responsible for the fires.

A few miles away in Milledgeville, Georgia white and black mobs armed themselves and roamed the town when an argument broke when the white and black schools choose the same colors. Respected black preacher J.A. Martin noticed that in Milledgeville's black community "the males carried their guns with as much calmness as if they were going to shoot a rabbit in a hunt, or getting ready to shoot the Kaiser's soldiers." There was a lot of tension in the black community as white soldiers were lauded upon their return while Black soldiers, who also fought in WWI, were ignored.